


Sense of Accomplishment

by Tacet7



Category: Kill la Kill (Anime & Manga), モブサイコ100 | Mob Psycho 100
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crossover, Fantasy, Gen, High School, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-02-09 09:44:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 52,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18635635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tacet7/pseuds/Tacet7
Summary: Shigeo unexpectedly receives an invitation from a prestigious academy in Kanto, as his fame as White T-Poison reached incredible heights and lengths, will he accept? Moreover, will he accept once he discovers about the Goku Uniforms? (Spoilers: He does.)





	1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer; I do not own Mob Psycho 100 or Kill la Kill, these masterpieces are owned by ONE and by Trigger, I'm only the owner of this story._

_Constructive Criticism is appreciated, and if anyone there wants to be my Beta-Reader and remark errors in my story, you're all welcome._

_I plan this to be a rather long story._

* * *

" ** _One Hundred Percent Sure"_**

* * *

-Three years since Claw's assault-

It was July, and a bright day in the Spirits and Such Consultation Office, three clients in a row and so much money,  _for Reigen,_ at least until Tome went apeshit on the shameless bastard for trying to hide some of the payment from them, then the money went to Shigeo, Serizawa and her. Right now, the four, five counting Dimple, were relaxing their asses in the couches watching the ending of " _Akira"_ while eating popcorn.

The boss from the office couldn't help but furrow his brows in bewilderment, "I didn't understand it at all, what happened at the end?"

Tome scratched her chin narrowing her eyes in thought. "I think Tetsuo died but at the same time didn't." Everyone in the room looked to her with faces that couldn't mean a thing other then confusion, if their raised eyebrows said anything. Mob didn't really raise his brow, he merely regarded her with a poker-face. "What I'm saying is-"

"I wonder if I would end up like Tetsuo if I didn't have you all guys." Everyone grimaced and shivered at the idea of Mob being a sociopathic bastard who consumed drugs with a well-developed inferiority complex and with a need to show everyone his worthiness by attacking the world's army. "Just kidding."

And then everyone relaxed. "Your jokes aren't fun Shigeo." The spectrum seriously spoke, and the young psychic tilted his head to the side slightly. "They aren't?"

Serizawa recalled the few times when Shigeo told them a joke, these moments could be counted with the fingers, they were treasures, but of course, Shigeo's sense of humor wasn't very amusing, to say the least. Sometimes his jokes could be scary. "It's not that Master Mob, it's just that…that…"

"That your sense of humor is lousy, the end." Reigen nonchalantly affirmed, pulling his cellphone and playing Psycho Dash.

Reigen could still remember when Mob stamped his cake during  _his_ birthday straight to his face and laughed for a long time. Everyone glanced to Reigen with a frown. "Sometimes you're an asshole, Reigen." Tome angrily told him, earning one of Reigen's weird and exaggerated faces. "Mind your tongue, apprentice, or your salary will be diminished! Also, you better refer to me as bo-"

"First of all, I'm not your apprentice, I'm Serizawa's, he's the real backbone over here, second, stop talking as if this was a seriously serious job because it  _isn't_ , and third, we aren't working, so if I want to, I'll call you  _ **"Old fart"**_ like I ever do."

It was true that she got used to calling him like that after the first year of working for the consultation office, often calling Reigen " _Old man"_ or  _"Old fart"._ Reigen zeroed in on her, his eyes meeting hers in a staring contest before he simply returned to his game. "Fair enough, Kurata," Reigen spoke. He simply wasn't in the mood to argue with her like they ever did, his mind was blowing up after that random ending of the movie Mob put and he needed a small break, and what better for a break than Psycho Dash?

Tome blinked twice but decided to rest importance to the success, glancing to Shigeo. "So? You understood the ending of your movie?"

Both Serizawa and Dimple glanced to the Esper and Shigeo scratched his rather spiky hair, his black eyes narrowing in thought until he resolved that he understood everything but the ending. "I'm as confused as you. Ritsu was the one who recommended this movie to me, I'll ask him about the finale later."

"Your brother has a taste for dark movies I see." Dimple said, earning a glance from Shigeo. "Maybe, but that's how Ritsu is."

The black-haired teenager accepted that his brother sometimes was a little…how would Tome call it? Edgy? Yes, that could be the word, although Ritsu almost never showed that side of him.

"Master Mob, I hope you ask him about that weird ending. Also, it surprises me how many times Tetsuo and Kaneda shouted the name of each other, that was weird."

"Tetsuoooo!" Dimple yelled with a retarded face.

"Kanedaaaa!"

Dimple and Serizawa laughed uncontrollably between themselves, and even Shigeo seemed to be affected by the way both yelled these names if his own soft laugh said anything, Tome was the same story. Only Reigen was unaffected by it, or at least he was in everyone's perspective, because he was holding back some snickers, and with snickers he meant laughs.

They were enjoying their free time inside the office with that air conditioner on, a device that was a must-have in these times, summer. It was already afternoon, but the heat was still there.

Everyone kept doing their thing in the place, talking, playing, re-watching some scenes of the movie and things like these until they heard a knock in the principal door.

"A client? At this hour? That doesn't happen every day." Reigen spoke before standing up from the couch and hiking towards the door, opening it. Everyone glanced to the door, catching sight of a teenager with a white sweatshirt, black pants and disheveled black hair, as tall as Reigen.

No wonder who he was.

"Oh, it's you." The future high-schooler flatly let out with a nonchalant facial expression. "Mob's brother? Nice to see you too." The Exorcist sarcastically greeted. He still didn't know what was the deal with his disciple's brother, he already told Mob that he wasn't an Esper, he wasn't lying to him anymore, what did this guy want? Or, perhaps, that was his normal face! He and Mob were truly alike then!

"Ritsu?" Shigeo asked, standing from the couch too and walking to the door, his brother smiled at him. "Hey, Shige, I was searching you,"

"Why?" Dimple questioned before Shigeo, but he didn't care, he was going to ask the same thing anyway. "Because someone came to our house asking for him." The youngest of the brothers answered, his smile changing for a raised eyebrow. "I didn't know other schools were so focused in you, Shige, you're so lucky, they selected you to be in their premises."

Reigen and Dimple's eyes widened in bewilderment and the other two who weren't in the entrance heard what Ritsu said, shuffling closer to the entrance, they wanted to hear more.

"What?" Shigeo inquired with curiosity, this revelation was unanticipated for the Esper, who always had been a mob for the society, someone who didn't stand out. That fact apparently changed when Ritsu pulled out a sheet from his dark blue pants pockets and gave the paper to him.

"And this?"

"Read it." His brother simply said, and Shigeo did as he was told. When he ended, the esper placed the letter inside his light blue anorak. "I'll think about it."

Reigen, who read what was written in the letter couldn't hide a sneer of contempt. These idiots surely only wanted Mob because he was a psychic, and he didn't know how they knew about that. He couldn't say he was better than them, from a start he only hired Mob because of his powers, but now he genuinely cared about him. Reigen just expected Mob to be wise with his decision.

The Exorcist would do an investigation about this Honnō City later, though. "Guys, I'm leaving, see you all tomorrow."

"Bye." Everyone let out, and Reigen returned to the insides of the consulting room as Shigeo moved out of the place to his house alongside Ritsu. "The man said he would roam around here for ten days until you accept."

Until he accepted? Did this man assume he was going to accept just because he was being invited to a prestigious academy? Things weren't that simple, he would have to pay for the trip over Kanto, which wasn't too close to Seasoning City, to begin with, and then to return over here he would have to pay for ANOTHER trip, it would be a mess and what Reigen would call a pain in the ass,  _that_ unless they had apartments, which would also be another cost.

"If you are wondering, they will assign a dorm for you in the One-Star district, Shige,"

Oh, how convenient.

Well, that was certainly a good offer he wouldn't mind to accept, but…"What does  **"** _ **One**_ **-** _ **Star**_ **"** and  **"** _ **Two-Star"**_ mean? Are these ranks?" Shigeo inquired, earning a nod from his little brother. "The higher your rank, the best your living conditions will be. They don't mention where the No-Star students live. Once you accept the scholarship, every service, as water, electricity,  _internet,_ gas, and some more are automatically paid and you get to be there for free, it's one of the privileges those selected by  _Ragyo Kiryūin_ herself have, or that was what the fellow following us says, right,  _Sanageyama?"_

Shigeo's gaze shifted to the zone where Ritsu glanced, and there, in the MobRonalds roof, a man with wild dark green hair was sitting, watching the conversation the two brothers were having. The guy hopped over in front of the two, landing halfway from the Kageyama siblings, and Shigeo examined his appearance; he had a long open white coat that reached his legs, which were covered by matching white pants and shoes. He had a belt with spikes in the front and his shoulders had spikes too, three by both sides, below the coat a cadet-blue vest could be seen. The Esper  _almost_ didn't see the sword sheath in the backside of the man arose eagerly to see Shigeo.

"Ha! We finally meet face-to-face, Shigeo Kageyama, or should I say…White T-Poison!"

The biggest from the brothers raised his eyebrows in curiosity, White T-Poison was the name the delinquents and bullies from other schools used to refer to him as the first student to defeat Hanazawa, the secret leader from Black Vinegar Highschool, Ritsu told him about it.

Was this guy a delinquent too?

"Who you are?" Shigeo questioned. Sanageyama clicked his tongue. He really didn't know who he was? Laughable.

"Didn't your little bro told you yet? I'll introduce myself to you then!"

Crossing his arms, spreading his legs slightly and a strange green light appearing out of the blue, the man roared enthusiastically "I'm Uzu Sanageyama, member of Honnōji Academy's student council and the director of the Athletic Committee!"

Both Shigeo and Ritsu remained still, not impressed in the slightest. "Amazing entrance didn't it?" Sanageyama cockily asked. When Ritsu was about to tell him a flat  _"No",_ Shigeo beat him to the punch by stating "That was impressive, Sanageyama," Mob walked towards Sanageyama until he was close enough, and lend a hand to him. "I'm Shigeo Kageyama, but you can call me Mob, it's nice to meet you."

Shigeo didn't feel too impressed by the entrance, but that light that shone was nice, and he would be nice with Sanageyama, he was introducing himself after all, and kindness was the secret behind a person's charm.

Sanageyama raised an inquisitive eyebrow; to be the one who humiliated Teruki Hanazawa three years ago, he was a very kind person and his appearance wasn't very threatening either. A bulky light blue anorak, dark green pants, white shoes, and black and rather spiky hair. His constitution seemed to be average.

He took the hand regardless of the mild disappointment he felt, but sure White T-Poison had something hidden if he was strong enough to beat that hellish blonde from Black Vinegar Middle-School.

"I'm looking forward to fighting with you and see what you're capable of!"

Ritsu frowned at the warrior's words. If this guy attacked his brother out of nowhere, he wouldn't have mercy with him.

"You are a fighter?" Shigeo inquired as he let the hand go, only for Sanageyama to excitedly state "Yeah! I'm a proud and powerful fighter, member of the Elite-Four from Honnōji Academy!" The fighter pointed his thumb to the outfit he was wielding. "This here is a  _Three-Star Goku Uniform,_ and I always use it in my serious fights! My bamboo sword is itching to battle you!"

Sanageyama seemed to be the type of person who enjoyed testing his abilities against others and that was rather good, it was good for a person to be so full of life. For Ritsu, he was just an arrogant and cocky guy who couldn't stop trying to look great, but for Shigeo, he was a person he wouldn't mind being friends with. He reminded him of the Body Improvement Club back in Salt Middle-School, oh, the memories were so warming, funny and good.

"My brother says you'll stay here for ten days."

Sanageyama scratched his head's back, disinterested in the matter. "Of course, till you answer the request of the academy, I've been ordered to escort you to the academy if you make up your mind in these ten days,"

Because he would need time to think about it, right? There weren't any people in this world who would outright deny an invitation from Honnōji Academy, after all, and the odds of someone doing so were extremely low, everyone went to the Goku Uniforms like mosquitos for a person in summer. No one ever denied an invitation from Honnōji Academy ever since it was created and inaugurated.

He wasn't quite pleased when they ordered him " _Recruit Shigeo Kageyama"_ and to stay here far from Kanto for ten days. Well, what to do, it wasn't as if he had more important things to do apart from going out searching for someone worth the effort to fight and discussing with the other members of the Elite-Four, so this could be somewhat refreshing. Moreover, this guy selected by Lady Ragyo…how couldn't he notice before? Sanageyama's fighting instinct was telling him to be aware of an immeasurable force laying inside White T-Poison, he swore he could see that overflowing and sparkling aura if he focused enough, which only thrilled Sanageyama more.

Shigeo briefly glanced to the pocket where he had the letter before replying. "I'll sleep on it, for now, thanks."

The warrior moved his hand in a nonchalant manner, "No problem, if you make up your mind you'll find me on that apartment over there, " Sanageyama pointed his index finger to a big building in front of the MobRonalds, which was the one where he came from, too. "See ya later then!" Sanageyama spoke as he hiked towards the building with hands in his pockets and a confident smirk on his face. If White T-Poison accepted, then he knew who would be his next objective.

He was pumped.

And Hanazawa lived here too, maybe the warrior would go roam over there searching for the blonde, he still owed him a rematch for that loss against him that time when he and his gang visited Seasoning City four years ago. The strength Sanageyama witnessed that time was awe-inspiring, how could Hanazawa have that much strength being a First Grader and without a Goku Uniform? Maybe he would find the answer with Shigeo, the one who  _defeated_ him.

Yep, he was greatly pumped.

* * *

_**FLASHBACK** _

* * *

 

_It was a shining day, the sky was blue, the birds were singing, and the sun wasn't particularly hot, it was almost winter. The perfect time for a gang from another region to attack your school, no?_

" _You already know who I am, no?! I heard that your gang challenged us! And we are here to see if you guys have guts to face me and my group!"_

_Every student from Black Vinegar Middle-School was inside, along with the professors, who couldn't be more scared and shocked; this guy came out of nowhere with a vast amount of people to challenge the Black Vinegar's gang, which was way too small in comparison._

_300 vs 30_

" _T-The hell?!" Edano squealed in astonishment at the number of people filling the premises of his school, almost not fitting. "That's right! We'll send you to hell if you don't give us Teruki Hanazawa now!" Sanageyama yelled, the massive group of the Northern Kanto Gang Leader Alliance emitting a war cry to remark these words, and everyone saw how a blonde with a shaggy haircut and wearing the Black-Vinegar uniform passed as his group spread to let him walk properly. The uncaring gaze he had was outright mocking for Sanageyama, and he couldn't help but furrow his brows and click his tongue._

" _I see you set free all these monkeys from the zoo, Edano, why would you do that?" Teruki asked the shivering and sweating guy. "T-Teru! They challenged us and we dared them to come here! We didn't expect this many thugs to come along that douchebag!"_

_Teruki sighed, rubbing his forehead in exasperation. "To interrupt my date like that…I'll make sure you learn a lesson after this ends, Edano, for now…" The blonde glanced to the massive group with an arrogant and condescending gaze. "…I'll discipline these animals and make them return to where they came from."_

_Sanageyama spat in the ground with rising anger. "Don't mess with us you piece of shit!" A thug yelled before the whole group pounced over Teruki, and the Black Vinegar students flinched, thinking that this would be the end, a total humiliation._

_And it was._

_With lazy movements, slaps, throws and impulsing himself, Teruki absolutely obliterated almost a half from Sanageyama's gang in less than six seconds. The ones that were yet to be punished assaulted him with different weapons, such as chains, knives, bamboo swords, and one pulled a cutter._

_None of them worked in the slightest._

" _Sometimes…you have to show the weak how useless their efforts are, and you all are a joke compared to my gift!"_

_Doing the wild dance he always used when many humans attacked him, Teruki pummeled and defeated every and all the members of the gang with powerful punches and kicks enhanced by his own powers, except for one._

_Sanageyama was watching everything with wide eyes full of shock. How could this guy defeat his group of 300 people just like that?! Was he…What kind of monster was he?! Every inch from his body was telling him to retreat while he could, but Sanageyama was no coward, and more importantly, he wouldn't abandon his gang here with this guy._

" _You…" He tightened the hold over his bamboo sword. "Why you?!" Sanageyama hopped over Teruki and swung his sword laterally._

_And then vertically._

_Diagonally._

_From behind._

_He was trying to hurt him, all in vain._

" _I'm afraid that won't work…" Teruki arrogantly spoke as Sanageyama tried and tried to injure him with his swings, unable to explain why his swings were ineffective even though they were fully connecting with Teru's body. "…because you're all extras. Don't you get it yet?"_

_The blonde grabbed the sword with his left hand, Sanageyama's moves became significantly slower after more than one hundred swings, becoming slow enough for him to react and catch the bamboo sword. "I'm the protagonist of this world, and you all were doomed at the moment you decided to come this far to challenge me with these gorillas you have for friends."_

_Without hesitation, Teruki crushed the bamboo sword with his bare hands, Sanageyama's mouth opening wide to yell "No!", only to be silenced by the right palm of Teruki._

_Sanageyama's stomach exploded in pain as he was sent many meters in the air, only to land in a house's roof, spilling blood from the throat, blood that stained in his black open coat, bad boy shirt, and black pants._

_He was humiliated, and he didn't need anyone to tell him it was like that. This was too much to take._

"… _So…strong…!"_

_And with these mumbles, Sanageyama fell unconscious._

_In the next morning, he woke up in Kanto again, and his group explained what happened to him, how they found him sleeping in a house's roof, and how they were brutally defeated by Teruki Hanazawa, too._

_Sanageyama clenched his fists so hard he drew blood out from them that day._

" _Hanazawa…! He'll pay someday!"_

_The warrior resolved, too, that he would have to become stronger if he wanted to have a slim chance against that monster._

* * *

 

_**END FLASHBACK** _

* * *

 

"I almost thought you forgot I was here, Shige."

The eldest of the brothers glanced to Ritsu. "I'll never forget about you, Ritsu, I'm your brother, remember? You can't get rid of me, and so I can't."

Shigeo earned a smile from his little brother. "I already know,"

Deep inside, Ritsu always knew that fact, even when he gained the powers he yearned for during almost all his life. When he acted as if he truly hated his brother, lying to himself.

"Let's go home, mom and dad sure are waiting for us," Ritsu spoke as he walked, his big brother following him to their house.

Little did they knew, someone was watching them both from a distance.

"How convenient!" Sho Suzuki yelled aloud, not worried about if they hear him, they couldn't, not at this distance. He would have a talk with Ritsu later.

* * *

It was midnight, and Ritsu was sleeping like a stone in his comfortable bed. The night was so calm and silent, no loud neighbor, which was a rare sight, he always had to bust down his neighbor's musical honk, it was such a nuisance.

That was until the sound of his window opening attracted his attention, waking him up and startling him. Bloodshot eyes searched for the light switch, and once he found it, a hand stopped him from turning the lights on.

"Shhh! Don't!"

That voice.

_That voice._

Ritsu glared to the side and saw a teenager with ginger-colored hair, a black shirt, and light brown shorts. These blue eyes that glowed in the darkness of the room were recognized, too.

"Suzuki?!"

Sho covered his ears at the practically shout, placing a finger on his own lips and emitting another " _Shhh!"_

Ritsu decided to follow his silent advice and lower his voice, that could've perfectly woke his parents and brother. "What are you doing here?!" He whispered, and Sho sat in the chair close to his desk. "Dunno…visiting my old friend?"

"Cut the…!"

Ritsu almost yelled again but lowered his voice in time. "Just, what are you doing here? It's not quite the time to go and start a conversation with your friends at damn 12 PM, know that?"

"Geez, you're very welcoming with your buddies I see." Sho sarcastically said as he placed a finger inside his ear, scratching the insides, something that was gross to Ritsu's eyes. "And you're the same smartass you always were, I see," Ritsu stated in a whisper, something that earned one of these murderous glares from Sho. "Why so mean? It's not like I'll destroy your computer even though  _I could."_

"Don't. You. Dare."

The two were in a staring contest to see who could make the worst glare, and it seemed that Ritsu won, because Sho scratched his head nonchalantly and made an innocent face. "Just kidding! Can't we tell jokes between ourselves once in a time?"

"We could if only  _you_ didn't wake  _me_ at damn 12!"

"It's not like we can talk about this matter at another hour either," Sho spoke, his face going totally serious just like that time when he visited Ritsu to burn his house. "I don't want anyone to see us, or hear us talking about this, it's dangerous."

Ritsu stared at him before saying "Care to enlight me about that?"

"Alright…I'll explain it to you." Sho crossed his legs, this was going to be rather long. "I saw that man inviting your brother to…Uonoji?"

"Honnōji Academy." Ritsu corrected and Sho nodded. "Yes, that thing. Well, he's the only one from here that is able to go and study there, so I guessed it wasn't wrong to inform about some things."

"To the point, I want to sleep."

"Geez, " Sho interlaced his hands behind his head and continued. "No one here knows too much of that academy, which is strange, because the existence of the Goku Uniforms is well known in all the country,  _no,_ in all the  _world."_ Ritsu's silence could be traduced as  _"Continue",_ and so Sho did. "The Goku Uniforms are human-enhancing clothes that are bestowed by the Student Council President from the academy, Satsuki Kiryūin, and even though Honnōji has dominated all the schools in Japan except the ones in the Kansai Region and the ones in Seasoning City from Chūbu, the Goku Uniforms are only bestowed in Honnō-"

"What does all of this has to do with Shige?"

Sho huffed in exasperation. "Can you wait till I finish with my explanation?" Ritsu nodded in response, allowing Sho to continue. "My point is, that school isn't anywhere near normal, and something devastating will happen soon," Sho pointed a finger to the other Esper apart from him in the room. "Your brother has to go there if or if!"

Ritsu shook his head at the words his friend spoke, earning a frown out from him. "Huh? Why? It's not like your brother, is dumb is he?"

The youngest from the Kageyama denied with a finger. "If something violent happens, Shige will do everything but accept studying in that school, he isn't the person who attacks others."

Ritsu remembered a time when Shigeo used a shockwave to knock out a mugger who tried to rob him and Reigen one day and that other time when Shigeo and he were walking in the night after Teru's birthday and were assaulted by a gang, only for Shigeo to knock all of them with one punch, one even screamed " _It's White-T Poison!"_ like a girl before being knocked.

"Well…maybe after  _that_  incident, Shige has become…looser, and he doesn't hesitate in punishing those who attack him out of the blue, but he always warns them to leave him alone first." Ritsu clarified, earning a silent chuckle out from Sho.

"Ha! So your brother has stopped being a coward? About time! That's all I needed to hear." Sho got up from the chair and walked to the room's window. "If that's the case, then congrats, I'm convinced that your big brother will be pleased to go after what I'm gonna say…"

Ritsu raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Go on."

Sho spun around to face him again so fast that it actually startled Ritsu, a serious glare printed all over his face. "This case can be devastating, for all the planet."

Oh.

Crap.

* * *

-The next day-

"Busy with an exorcism boss?" The black-haired man inquired as he cleaned the office with a broom, wiping out the dirt and the trash.

"Pretty much, Serizawa."

Reigen was sitting in the chair and pushing buttons in the computer, moving the mouse of said computer and doing an  _exorcism_. This  _exorcism, completely real and no fake,_ consisted in exorcizing a ghost from a photo, said ghost was uglier than Quasimodo, it sent shivers down Reigen's spine. The  _exorcism,_ of course, was executed using a tool made  _specifically_ for  _exorcisms._

Said tool was called " _Photoshop"_ and was VERY useful.

"Aaand…" Reigen moved the mouse a little too fast and unintentionally erased the hand of the person in the image, who was CONVENIENTLY close to the spectrum. "Fuck!"

"What's the problem boss?! The ghost escaped?!" Serizawa asked, alarmed at the curse his boss yelled. "N-No, Serizawa, I have things under control."

Serizawa sighed in relief and kept cleaning the office. "Boss, you scared me."

"Sorry, but it was your fault for doubting the Psychic of the Century's capabilities."

Serizawa chuckled at that. It was usual for Reigen to joke about himself having ESP.

With that, Reigen kept up doing his thing as well. It wasn't until five minutes passed that Reigen could correct his error and  _exorcize_ the being in the photo, which surely was just his damn grandma one Monday in the morning walking behind a guy.

The thing even had LIGHT BROWN HAIR.

"Exorcism accomplished!"

Reigen imprinted the image and blew air on it before kissing it, admiring his own amazingness. "Let's call our client and inform him about our success, Serizawa."

"Alright." Serizawa placed the broom along with the other brooms using his telekinesis and went to the phone in the table close to the couches, calling to the most recent client they had in the day.

"Yes? Mr. Minch, yes, we finished the task, of course, will come here for the photo at 2:00? Splendid, have a nice day and thanks for paying for our services."

Reigen rushed over the phone before Serizawa could hang. "We hope you require of our services in the near future!"

**BEEP**

Reigen hung.

Serizawa was staring at him with raised eyebrows and mouth open wide. "Boss! Saying that isn't wishing bad luck for the client?!"

Reigen chuckled almost devilishly, and Dimple emerged from Reigen's nose like snot. "That's the point Serizawa!" The spectrum spoke, provoking Serizawa to grimace and Reigen to laugh.

"Recharged batteries Dimple?" Reigen asked as he passed a hand across his messy light brown bangs. Dimple went out totally from Reigen's nose, acquiring his balloon-like form. "Some, but it's a nuisance to need being inside you to live."

"Come on, it's been three years already, you must've got used to it." The Exorcist affirmed, and Serizawa followed him by correcting "Besides, you're a spectrum, you aren't alive."

"Shut up! I'm the great Dimple and such a statement isn't suitable for me! I was never dead and I feel so alive right now that I might punch you in the face!" Dimple exclaimed as he rolled up his inexistent sleeve. Reigen snickered at this while a vein bulged in Serizawa's temple. "Well guys, I'm a busy man so I'll leave you two settle the things between yourselves in  _peace."_

Reigen hiked to his chair and leaned comfortably against it before moving the mouse of the computer and entering to Techno Search, the biggest and more massive searching tool in the world, with the most amount of information.

"Let's see… _Honnōji Academy…"_

While Serizawa stamped Dimple against the ground continuously, Reigen typed his search; if he was frank, he didn't really know about this Honnōji Academy. Of course, he knows it was located somewhere in Kanto, but he was curious as to what was going on there and why it was so famous in all the country but in Seasoning City, where few to no person was well informed about it.

He saw HundredPedia on the screen and clicked on the mouse once he placed the arrow on the page's portal. The Exorcist started to read what appeared on-screen along with an image of Honnōji Academy's entrance:

**Honnōji Academy.**

_**Honnōji Academy** _ **is a prestigious High School located at the top of** **Honnō City,** **constructed and inaugurated in the year ?**

**The creation of the academy was commissioned by the CEO of REVOCS, Ragyo Kiryūin, with her daughter Satsuki Kiryūin being charged to govern it.**

**The school system works the same as other High Schools in Japan, with the addition of the Goku Uniforms, which are bestowed by the Student Council President to the students after testing them in the first day known as Evaluation Day, based on their abilities.**

**The system also grants the students who acquire at least a One-Star uniform in the first day free dorms with all services paid. Those who are also selected personally by the director of the school, Ragyo** **Kiryūin are also offered the same privileges as a One-Star student** **.**

**Status: Operating.**

**Number of students: 600+ and increasing.**

Reigen was wondering why they hid the date of creation of the school, but he put it aside that and moved the bar down. It seems that they had their own celebrations too, such as the " _No-Late Day",_ whatever that was. It all ended up on him entering the Honnō archive.

Everything he read was useless for him, except for a small, VERY small line…

**The lowest district of the city is well-known for the paranormal incidents reported weekly and is a place where the people says that screams and cries can be heard during the nights, where the objects usually move on their own when no one is watching, the city is place for exorcist-**

He stopped reading there.

Reigen's eyes shined with a cunning glow, and he glanced in front of the monitor with a sly smile, to see Serizawa and Dimple fighting like children.

"Serizawa, Dimple…I think there will be a change in schedule…" He spoke with a grin and both Serizawa and Dimple glanced between themselves.

The only Esper in the office scratched his short hair in confusion. "I didn't know there was a schedule in the first place," Serizawa said, and the grimace Dimple was doing could only mean the same. Reigen huffed in exasperation.

"It doesn't matter really…but..Serizawa, you'll work double time and you'll be paid more!"

"Huh?"

"Yes! We can't leave room for the competence in Honnō City!"

Poor Serizawa didn't knew what awaited him in the following days, but Reigen didn't care. He would show the world that not even the exorcists in Honnō could outclass him, the exorcist from Seasoning City and from the Century.

* * *

**EXTRA**

* * *

It all started one morning, and then it repeated through the week, until Ritsu couldn't stop his need to know what was bothering his brother. So, one morning, he resolved that he would have to ask him during breakfast.

"Brother?"

Shigeo was eating his breakfast in the table along with his family when his brother called him, provoking him to shift his gaze towards him, noticing the stares of his parents, too.

"What is it, Ritsu?"

The youngest of the family narrowed his eyes sharply before asking "Are you angry?"

He wasn't angry. "No? Should I?" Ritsu shook his head. "Do you feel sad?"

Shigeo certainly wasn't sad. "No."

Ritsu placed a hand in his chin. What could've caused his brother to raise his hair? It was strange. "Do you feel  _animosity?"_

The eldest of the brothers shook his head. "No."

"Courage?"

Why would he feel courageous? There wasn't anything to do that required courage right now, did he needed to be brave at the hour of breakfast?

"No."

"Anxiety?"

There was no reason to feel anxious. "No."

Ritsu closed his eyes until he thought of something. "Do you feel very happy?"

"I'm always happy when I'm with my family," Shigeo affirmed with a smile, earning more smiles from everyone. "Why are you asking me how I feel, Ritsu?"

The Esper pointed to his head. "Because of your hair, it only gets spiky when you feel a particular emotion over all others."

Shigeo passed a hand across his hair and to his surprise, he felt it somewhat spiky, just like his brother said. "I think he looks good with it!" His father chuckled, and his mother looked at him with a even more concerned glance. "Shige! You look like a delinquent!"

Ritsu had his own theory about this; lately, his brother was more expressive, he let his emotions free more often if not all the time since that incident, and he became better at socializing. Maybe his previous internal struggle didn't let him have all of that? He no longer hid what he felt nor what he thought.

Maybe it was because of that that his hair went wild now.

* * *

_Extras in this story are either made to clarify some things or for humorous purposes, just for you all to know. See you in the next episode._


	2. Chapter 2

" _ **My Immortal"**_

* * *

-Following the events of the previous episode-

"You're all idiots!"

Sho stomped harshly in the chest of the leader from the group of seven thugs that were in the ground after their failed attempt to assault him. "I'm not even tryin' and you're all on your knees already? Talk about pushovers!"

One of the delinquents, the one who took less damage raised a trembling arm and pointed a finger furiously to the Esper. "No one here is on their knees douchebag!"

The ginger-haired Esper glanced around and witnessed the trembling and beaten bodies of his assailants laying in the ground, not to mention their battered, swollen and somewhat bloodied faces. One even lost his left shoe and another lost three teeth.

He really did a number on them.

Maybe he got too carried away.

Nonetheless, Sho scratched his head as if it wasn't a big deal because, for him, it wasn't. These guys were your typical hard gang that terrorized a neighborhood, and they thought they could mess with HIS neighborhood, hence why he welcomed them with arms open wide.

And full of telekinesis, of course.

"Well, it sounded cool, and that's what matters," Sho pointed a finger back to the thug, who flinched in fear, as expected, the tough facade fell pretty fast. "Leave with your buds  _now,_ unless ya all wanna another beatdown!"

The thug nodded a bit too fast and carried two of his friends, the others who could barely stand shuffled out of the place as fast as they could in fear, sweating coldly and crying almost like pigs in the slaughterhouse.

Sho couldn't help but sneer in amusement. What was the funniest part of this encounter? That he beat all of them with a dandelion bouquet on his left hand.

Although, the purpose of these flowers was all but funny.

The Esper walked calmly out of the neighborhood where his family's residence was located.

* * *

Shigeo was having a nice day; he slept well, the room was fresh, the house was clean, the breakfast and the food were both delicious, and the TV was…the same. Best part? No school, it was still summer break.

But there was  _one_ thing that was somehow ruining his amazing day, and that  _one_ thing was that Ritsu woke with insomniac bags below his dark eyes. He hasn't seen his brother and neither his parents since breakfast, his parents went to the market in order to buy what was needed in the house, such as food, paper rolls for bathroom, more food, and…food.

And a fly killer, but Shigeo wasn't very fond of the idea, if he had to get rid of an insect such as a fly, he would better open the window and let it go through it. He didn't like to kill anything, not even something as insignificant as a fly.

The Esper was sitting in the couch watching the usual programming when he heard the sound of the door being knocked in the house. Shigeo stood up from his couch and shuffled towards the house's door as barefoot as he still was, opening it only to see his younger brother in front, wearing his white sweatshirt and green pants.

"Ritsu! You've been out for a while." He spoke with a small smile, his brother glancing at him with a serious face. "We have to talk, brother."

"Sure."

Shigeo let Ritsu pass to the home of the Kageyama, and the youngest brother leaned in a couch, his big brother doing the same after locking the door. "You-"

"First,"

Ritsu raised an eyebrow in bewilderment. His brother never interrupted someone, or at least not very often, he had to have something going on in his mind. "Why do your eyes look like that?"

The Esper's bewilderment dissolved into skepticism almost instantly. "I didn't sleep well yesterday, that's why." Shigeo looked at him for some seconds after he clarified the things to him before returning to his normal self, his calm, kind self. "What'd you wanted to talk about?"

"It's about Honnōji Academy."

Oh.

That.

"Is there a problem with it?" Shigeo questioned, and Ritsu tilted his head down slightly. "You thought about your answer?"

The oldest from the brothers briefly averted his gaze before looking back to Ritsu. "Yes."

The youngest Esper in the house glanced to his brother in in surprise. "You did?"

Shigeo nodded. "I thought it would be good for me to test new things, I've always lived and studied here on Seasoning City, I'm curious as to how other parts such as Kanto are. I'll be there for a year, what do you think Ritsu?" He asked with a smile, and Ritsu internally sighed in relief. Perhaps he wouldn't have to make a complex excuse to force his big brother to go there. "I'm fine with it, brother," Ritsu answered with a relieved smirk, and for the first time in the day, Shigeo saw his face filled with happiness.

Did he want him to go there  _that bad_?

"You aren't going today, right?" The youngest of the two asked, earning a shook. "No, I'm not going today. I'll need to pack my things." Shigeo spoke, already making a mental list as to what he would need.

"You can ask me for help, if you want," Ritsu assured, and his brother's eyes closed in calmness as he leaned in the couch. "Thanks, Ritsu, but I'm okay."

Ritsu was mentally begging for his brother to ask him about the lifeforms, but he knew it was useless, it was impossible that his brother heard the conversation he had with Sho yesterday's night. "Very well, should we go with Teru?"

Shigeo raised both eyebrows in mild curiosity. "You had been fond of going out lately."

"That is in order to grow up, Shige. We can't pass the entire summer on our houses." Ritsu affirmed, and Shigeo seemed to be convinced by that.

His brother could have the reason, it was for the best to go out, and moreover, they had to enjoy this entire summer to the fullest, he would leave in ten days, and in ten days, the school would be about to start.

"Fine. Let's go, Ritsu."

Both brothers stood up, Ritsu heading to the kitchen in search of an appetizer and Shigeo to his room, planning to change his clothes; he wouldn't go walking in the streets with the clothes he wore to sleep, which were a gray shirt and white shorts, much less being barefoot.

He took off the shirt and searched for his bulky light blue anorak, finding it in almost no time below the pillows and putting on it. It was very fresh in the insides. Shigeo briefly glanced to his shorts and decided to take his gray pants, he only had three pants, but he washed them up fast enough for them to be ready when one of the was dirt. Putting his gray pants and his white shoes, Shigeo went out of his room to see Ritsu eating  _tofu_.

_From a plate that was in the fridge._

Shigeo's eyebrows widened slightly.

The stare he was giving his youngest brother didn't pass ignored by him. "Shige?" He let out after swallowing some Tofu. Shigeo pointed to the plate. "That plate had a week in the fridge."

Ritsu stared at him with a poker face only to continue eating. "Care to enlight me about that? Who would leave  _Tofu_ for a week in the fridge?"

Shigeo stared at him back, with the same gaze he had since he found him eating the  _Tofu._ "Dad forgot about it and didn't eat it when he found it again."

Ah.

The youngest from the brothers couldn't help but think that his father's taste was pretty bad, who would leave amazing  _Tofu_ on a fridge?

"Oh, Ritsu, do I call Sho to go with us?"

The future Highschooler furrowed his brows. "No, he's busy with other things."

Then  _something_ came to Shigeo's mind.

What day was this?

The oldest Esper in the place pulled his phone from his pants pockets and saw that it was July 25th.

The day Sho's mother died.

"I remember now," Shigeo said, his gaze darkening. Sho was way closer with Ritsu than he was with him, but only the knowledge of the grief he and his father had to endure that exact date was enough to depress him.

Ritsu placed the plate of Tofu inside the fridge again. Suddenly, his hunger went completely away. "Let's go with Teru."

The two brothers went outside the house afterward, Shigeo wouldn't go to work today.

* * *

"Well, this is pretty surprising,"

The Kageyama siblings found Teru faster than expected.

"So, you're going to a prestigious school in Kanto, Kageyama?"

The three Espers were sitting in a bench conveniently close to the Spirits and Such Consultation Office building, Ritsu was eating fried potatoes, Shigeo was drinking a bottle of apple juice and Teruki was…busy being himself, and eating potatoes, like Ritsu

"Yes, Hanazawa."

A smirk made his way to Teruki's face. "Hey, going ahead of me? We are rivals, don't forget that, although I knew you would end up in a place like that." The blonde affirmed, and Shigeo shook his head, provoking Teru to raise an inquisitive eyebrow. "Maybe I ended up there, but Ritsu said my grades weren't good enough, so I'll have to start from first grade again."

Teruki frowned. "Perhaps we Espers only shine because of our powers still…"

The blonde's phone was vibrating, indicating he was getting a call, and from the same girl that had been calling him the whole day.

He clicked his tongue and touched the " _Reject_ " button.

Shigeo saw that happen while Ritsu was looking to the distance, chewing on his potatoes, deciding to offer one to his brother. "Want some, Shige?"

"Yes, Ritsu." He answered and took the potato simultaneously, placing it in his mouth and eating the half. "You got called by a girl Hanazawa?" Shigeo inquired, and Teruki leaned more in the bench. "Yes. It's quite annoying."

"Why? I would be happy to see a girl interested in me enough to call me."

Teruki shook his head. "They are superficial, and they aren't really interested, they just call me because they think I'm handsome, that's all."

Ritsu gave Teru a potato, and he ate it, enjoying the potato as good as it was. In exchange, Teru gave Ritsu a fried spicy potato. "I discovered I have my own fans club, but I'm not interested in them." The youngest in the place said, earning a glance from his big brother.

"You have a…fans club?"

Ritsu nodded in response to Shigeo's question. "As I said, I'm not interested."

Shigeo couldn't help but feel somewhat bad; Teru and Ritsu were both appealing for girls, and he? He wasn't. "If you think about it, it's pretty normal, Kageyama. Ritsu excels in basically everything he tries."

"Not in everything," Ritsu replied to the blonde, remembering how lousy his control over his powers was, only being able to put down some delinquents, but being almost defenseless against other powerful Espers. The brutal beatdown he suffered against that teleporting Esper was still haunting him, but he trained every day to improve his powers and, maybe one day, be at his brother's level, who seemed unreachable even after he got his own powers.

Popularity? Screw it, he didn't care about something so insignificant. Powers were Ritsu's goal, and now that he had them, he would improve them to protect those he loved and to live a fun life. No one would take away his chance of living a fun life along with his family and friends.

"I wonder where Suzuki is, why didn't he came with us today?" Teruki questioned, and Ritsu answered. "He's busy with some other things."

Teruki then remembered what day this was. "True." He let out as he nodded.

Shigeo still remembered the first time when Teruki and Sho met; it was very weird, once they saw each other, for some reason both felt a need to test each other capabilities, and they did that  _in_   _front_  of the Kageyama brothers. It was intense, and when the fight ended, both were all bruised and wounded.

They became friends after that.

And so, the four started to hang out over the city, watching how it was. Sometimes they invited Reigen, Serizawa or whoever who was willing to go along with them, sometimes it was a common day of hanging out with your buddies, and other times the days were crazy and funny, at least in Shigeo's perspective.

One time they went to the arcade and inexplicably ended up in a random bar, Shigeo was asleep with the face stamped to the floor and drooling, Teruki was strangely drunk and carrying his giant wig, Ritsu was drunk and angry at the bar manager without reason, and Reigen was…throwing up, even though he only drank one glass. Serizawa and Dimple were watching the whole thing like children watching their parents discussing. And as to Sho…it was so horrendous that no one wanted to talk about it.

They drank beer without knowing and they weren't adults yet! Except for Serizawa and Reigen.

Everyone accorded to not ever get carried away and to not ever  _accidentally_ drink beer again, still…

These days when everyone hanged out and enjoyed themselves were a treasure for Shigeo.

* * *

"More tea, my Lady?"

"Yes, Soroi."

If Satsuki was honest, she preferred living in this place, in the top of her academy more than living in the Kiryūin Manor. She was calmly enjoying her last days of vacations because there were only ten now, as the week after these ten days would be of inscriptions, many families whose offspring managed to get a place here would come.

Speaking about inscriptions…it reminded her of a  _very_ special guest that perhaps, was an  _Esper._ Never did she thought she would find one for real, and if it was true, then this asset would be of utility if he proved himself truly worthy, she would have it easier to accomplish her goal.

"I see you are thinking more this day, is there something you, ma'am?" The old man inquired as he placed the teacup in the luxurious table. "It's nothing relevant, Soroi. I'm enjoying this calm day." She said as she leaned more in the seat, relaxing before taking her teacup and sipping.

"It makes me glad, my Lady."

Soroi left the living room of what came to be Satsuki's home. She glanced to the great window that was at the side.

This would be an amusing year, or so she expected, with the so-called " _White T-Poison"._ After, he was the one who defeated that infamous secret leader from that Black Vinegar school many years ago. However, she only selected Shigeo from both psychics because he proved himself stronger than the blonde, and because it would be  _too_ suspicious.

One psychic was enough.

Even so, Satsuki didn't doubt this Hanazawa could put her on the edge in a battle, he dominated his territory, one of the few cities in Japan that weren't under her rule, with an iron fist. She would be interested in meeting the blonde, too.

What happened to him after the defeat at Shigeo Kageyama's hands was still a mystery for the whole of Japan. Still, what wasn't a mystery was…that incident in Seasoning City three years ago. When an unknown man who claimed to be the leader of an Esper organization declared the war against the world, and part of the city was destroyed.

Toichiro Suzuki, was his name?

Espers were interesting, truly interesting.

She sipped more of her teacup.

Satsuki placed the teacup in the table and raised a finger, attempting to elevate it with the power of the mind.

It didn't work.

She smiled.

Perhaps strong will wasn't enough to awaken such abilities, which only served to increase her interest in Shigeo Kageyama. How did he accede to these powers were a mystery, both for her, and both for the Japan government.

The Academy already had two undercover teachers, one from that pathetic organization which worked against her and her despotism, and the other…from the government, perhaps. She would let these two keep up with their activities, they weren't really an obstacle.

This cycle would be interesting.

* * *

"We'll miss you here, Mob."

If there was something Shigeo didn't expect, that was Reigen saying " _We'll miss you"_ only to glue a white ghost in his anorak, a ghost smiling a mischievous smile. "Master, why'd you put that ghost in my outfit?"

"Why not, Mob? It's our company's pet!"

"C-Company?! Are you delirious old man?"

"Kurata, SHHHH!"

A discussion between the two started. Dimple manifested at the side of Shigeo and yawned. "They're gettin' along so well. Well, Shigeo, it was nice knowing you." He spoke as he patted Shigeo in the back. "Why you say that? It's not like we'll not meet again."

"Oh."

Dimple recalled what Reigen said earlier, " _Listen! We'll visit Mob, too, but only on festive days such as Halloween or Christmas!",_ so they would see Shigeo again, that was for sure, and that was without counting the  _chat,_ which required internet.

"Well, Shigeo, I'm expectin' you to get some friends out there! Who knows? Maybe you find a pretty ass there!"

"Ehm! Mob!"

Shigeo glanced to his mentor again, and Reigen decided to explain the ghost's in his back objective. "The main purpose of that ghost in your back is to show everyone that even without being in a place, the  _ **"The Spirits and Such Consultation Office"**_ remains atop of all the other exorcists out there!"

Mob raised an eyebrow. "Like, I'll have to accept if someone asks me to exorcize an evil spirit or something?"

Reigen nodded eagerly. "That's right! If they say a part of their bodies hurts, you'll massage them until they feel in heaven with the technique I taught you! If that doesn't work, then just give them salt, say it's purified, just in case!"

Mob nodded. "I understand."

Dimple frowned. "Really? You can get pissed Shigeo…he's forcing you to work at distance for him!"

The Esper shook his head. "No, Dimple, I'll do that because I want to help people."

"Master Mob!"

Everyone glanced to the door that opened suddenly, noticing Serizawa carrying a box and sweating profusely. Reigen let out a " _Huh?"_ at that, and Tome did the same. Dimple remained still, and Shigeo only raised his eyebrows. "Serizawa?"

"Y-Yes! Master Mob, before leaving, take this with you!"

Serizawa opened the box almost instantly and showed him a black shirt which had the same ghost in the front that Reigen glued to his anorak, but with more, almost like graffiti and with sharp features.

"It's for me?"

"Yes! It's a shirt, my mother made it for you! She was grateful that you helped me back then, and I kept this shirt waiting for you to grow and wear it!"

Shigeo was…touched. The only word that could describe what he was feeling was  _happiness._ Well,  _joy_ could be used too. "Thanks, to you and to your mother."

The Esper teenager hiked towards the door, towards Serizawa and took the shirt. It was so soft and fresh that he wanted to put on it now. "Now, then…I'll enjoy my ten days with you all wearing this shirt!"

Serizawa let out an " _Oh"_ provoking Mob to look at him again. "What happens?" He inquired, and Serizawa just sighed, his gaze falling to the ground. "I thought you were leaving today…"

Everyone, including Mob, laughed at that, but it wasn't a burst of mocking nor mischievous laughter.

Everyone was just happy things were still right.

They would miss these moments so  _bad._

* * *

_-Ten days since the previous events-_

A Psychic was leaning comfortably against a soft seat inside the subway train from Seasoning City; he had to admit, he didn't expect them to be this soft, it provoked him to want a nap in them.

If it wasn't because of his companion snores, he would've already fallen asleep.

How many hours had it been? Shigeo pulled his phone from his gray pants pockets and turned it on, which took some seconds. He wouldn't complain about it, actually, Mob felt lucky that about having a phone, considering the little things his parents bought for him, he didn't even have a bed, so it would be a brand new thing for Shigeo to sleep in the promised apartment from the place he was going to.

_11:23 AM_

Only an hour passed since he entered this train? What word would Reigen use in a situation like this? Oh, he remembered.

Crap.

Mob sighed in repressed annoyment. How far was Kanto from his city? Oh, wait, Sanageyama answered that question actually, "It took me five hours to arrive here on Honnō's train, so don't expect us to arrive in a short time, friend" were his words.

The Esper couldn't help but yawn.

This would be easier if only Uzu wasn't snoring this loud, but it didn't end there, no, the very few passengers, four families in particular, decided that it was better to snore AS LOUD as Sanageyama.

A light accidentally burst due to some of his massive power escaping, but no one noticed, they were all in a deep slumber. The Esper glanced to the ground, he had to calm down

Shigeo clicked his tongue. Reigen was rubbing that habit off on him, as well as he rubbed off his mastery at massage. Shigeo didn't doubt someone in that Honnō place required some attention in their bodies, but what puzzled him was how no one from Honnō called the Spirits and Such Consultation Office from the website or by Reigen's number to help, his master said that the city had its own set of "Extranormal activities".

Reigen said "Extranormal" or "Paranormal"? He didn't remember. What he remembered, though, was how he struck one of his proud poses and told him "You'll carry the name of Spirits and Such proudly in your back and in your chest whenever you wear your jacket and shirt, Mob! Show them just what we're made of!"

If his master was still like he was three years ago before telling him the truth, Mob could swear his master would've said something like "Show them what I'm made of!" and sit in his chair to use photoshop in a cursed image.

Mob wasn't that dumb, he knew about how Reigen used that app to erase the spectrums from the images. Well, it made people feel happy and safe, so he didn't have any complaints.

The Esper didn't want to do this, but he would have to use his psychic powers to force his own slumber, or these snores would give him a headache, and Shigeo having a headache wasn't something you would like to see, ever.

"I have to focus and…"

He fell asleep.

* * *

-Three hours later-

Shigeo woke from his slumber due to the sound of something being crushed penetrating in his ears. It was hideous.

He and Sanageyama were the closest passengers to the chief's cabin, hence why both woke at the sound.

"You heard that?" He asked the green-haired warrior, who nodded. "Loud and clear," Sanageyama glanced to the windows and aggregated "But it's a common thing on this road."

The Esper was about to open his mouth to ask why, and he opened it, not because he asked anything, but because of what he saw through the windows.

A lifeless wasteland wrapped in dead silence for now, with dark clouds surrounding it. Bones of humans and other creatures could be seen, too.

He swore he could still see their ashes spread across the ground.

In Sanageyama's eyes, it was void of any living thing, and it was, but Shigeo was getting a sickening sensation at what he was watching.

The place was full of spirits that were roaming free in the place, and every one of them glanced to the train, they weren't very happy, for not saying anything worst. Some of them started to attempt to enter the train, startling Shigeo, who was the closest to the window, and he could see them pursuing the train to do God knows what, all while emitting horrendous and loud screams of agony.

The more he heard these dreadful noises, the more his head hurt. Sometimes he wished to not have these powers. Hopefully, these ghosts would be left behind by the train, which wasn't going exactly slow, but he still rubbed his head to wipe the headache away.

"What's the matter, Poison?"

During the ten days lapse, Sanageyama got accustomed to calling Shigeo "White T-Poison" or simply "Poison", and the latter didn't mind it, if he wanted to call him by that nickname, so be it, the Esper wasn't upset by it.

In fact, there were very few things that could molest him, such as snores, which he was developing an aversion to.

"The screams."

Sanageyama raised his eyebrows. "Someone is screaming?"

The Esper glanced to the window. "The souls of dead people were screaming. They are angry."

These words coupled with the tone Shigeo used when saying them sent chills down the warrior's spine, but he was proud, and he would never admit it. "Well, look at the hour, sure we're already leaving this place! I'll show you the Kendo Club dojo after you get to know Lady Satsuki."

He wanted to change the matter of the spirits fast, it was unsettling. It seemed that Shigeo thought the same because he asked "Satsuki? I read that she was the one who wrote my invitation letter, she writes in such a beautiful way."

Shigeo had to admit, that letter was satisfying to see.

"…What?"

The high schooler Esper was puzzled by Sanageyama's look; he had the mouth slightly along with a furrowed brow. "Is there something wrong with what I said?"

The green-haired warrior shook his head. "No, it's just that no one I know has ever focused in Satsuki's letter, you're truly one of a kind, White T-Poison, " The Elite-Four grinned excitedly. "Which fuels my desire to fight against you even more!"

* * *

-Osaka-

"N-No! Please sto-"

**SMACK**

Two teeth fell to the ground, along with the poor guy who was hit so hard in the face he immediately went unconscious.

"That's what you pricks get for messing with me!"

The violent girl that had a red bang on her mid-length hair glanced behind. "And as for you!" She walked hot in her heels towards the leader of the gang which assaulted her, the Kanto Vagabond, thinking she was a fragile flower who couldn't defend herself.

What an unexpected fate they met.

Ryuko Matoi came to halt inches from the trembling but still conscious guy, and she made a slight movement, provoking him to close his eyes strongly and try to protect himself with his hands; this couldn't be! It had to be a cruel joke.

When he heard a sound, he prepared to get whatever this fearsome and terrifying person intended to do to him. When seconds passed and nothing happened, he slightly opened his eyes.

He didn't expect to see a red blade in front of him.

That was what she had in her guitar case all the time?!

"Have you seen another blade like this?! Huh?!"

The guy remained astounded at the weapon, it looked like half of a scissor. "Well?!" She yelled, and he could only say the first thing that came to his mind.

"W-White T-Poison!"

Why did he say that? The famous secret leader of Salt High school had nothing to do with this.

Wait!

He could use White T-Poison to lure her away from himself and his gang! White T-Poison wouldn't have problems with beating her right? He defeated Teruki Hanazawa and all the middle school gangs of his territory after all!

"What'd you say?" She inquired with a raised eyebrow. Ryuko swore he heard these phrase somewhere else, but she couldn't quite remember. "Y-Yes! White T-Poison wielded yer blade once upon a time!"

Ryuko's eyes wide opened. Could it be that this guy was meaning what she thought?!

"Say what? You're sayin' that this White T-Poison used a blade like mine?!"

"YES!"

Her eyes shined with hope. For the first time in who knows how much time, her sapphire eyes had a hopeful light in them. "And who is this White T-Poison?!"

"YES!"

**SMACK**

The punch sent the gang leader to sleep.

"Idiot…"

Still, she felt somewhat grateful at this bastard; five months and no one but him had a clue about her father's murderer. Ryuko thought for a moment that she would never find the bitch who did it, but now she had a hint! Now the problem was getting information about this so-called "White T-Poison".

If only she hadn't knocked out this bastard, she would've skipped that part and traveled wherever that guy was. Well, it wasn't as if this thug could think thoroughly after the pummeling she put him and his gang through.

She walked off that green zone, out from the looks of curious and terrified bastards that were trembling all because of her sheer power, two or three yelled "She's the Kanto Vagabond!" and retreated from the place. Ryuko appeared in the newspaper as a person who raised hell wherever she went even, so she had a tough reputation, a reputation she was proud of.

"When I find that bastard Black T-Poison or however he's called…I'll make sure he spits everything he knows about the scissor blade!" She told herself, clenching her fists as she did so.

* * *

_No "Extra" this chapter! They won't appear everytime. Well, pretty short chapter isn't it? This episode's main goal was to say "farewell" to Seasoning City. See you in the next one, which will undoubtedly be longer!_


	3. Chapter 3

" _ **Back on Track**_ **"**

* * *

Ryuko was strolling on the streets of Seasoning City, thinking, something she didn't really do often due to her being too focused on her goal, which was finding the bitch who murdered her father and…she actually didn't know.

Was she doubting? She didn't have the courage to…?

The girl shook her head at these thoughts, she would think about it when the time came and when the other scissor blade owner was beneath her feet begging for mercy, because she would undoubtedly beat her to a pulp.

Ryuko took a bite from a raw lemon she bought in a small mall from Seasoning City.

What if that bastard in Osaka lied to her and this poison guy didn't have anything to do with the scissor blade owner?

Bah.

It wasn't as if she found a hint in the last five months, this was her only chance, or so she thought. Deep down, she was begging for this guy to know something, to tell her…but she was starting to doubt that. Maybe she was messing with the wrong person?

"Shit!"

She kept walking, now hot on her heels. Why did she worry about something like that?! The world never worried about her, why would she worry about if she hurt a person? If it would serve to make her take a step towards who killed her progenitor,  _so be it_.

Maybe she was an egoist.

"Who should I ask…?"

Ryuko was having trouble in finding any delinquent over here, everyone looked like your day by day person who only lived their lives in peace, including those people whose chin were  _two balls._

That was something she didn't get to see every day. Sure it was something exclusive from the city.

The scissor blade wielder took another bite from her lemon. In a corner, she saw three people with collars, one had a bat, another had his eye swollen. A particular one had spiky, black and disheveled hair, with bruises all over his face, the three also shared the same blue uniform.

_Delinquents._

Not losing time, Ryuko stepped towards them, and the three looked at her.

"Who are ya?" The one who seemed to be the leader, AKA the spiky-haired one inquired, earning a defiant glance from her. "Ryuko's the name, I have a question for you."

"Ryuko? You mean…"

Edano recalled hearing that name in the last months very often,  _"The Kanto Vagabond, Ryuko Matoi",_ or the  _"Guitar Case Drifter",_ a girl with a red streak and black and white jacket who raised hell wherever she went. This girl…she certainly shared the same appearance with the one he saw in the newspaper. "The Kanto Vagabond?"

"Bingo, now you'll answer my question."

By the tone she used, Edano understood that he didn't have a choice in the matter. "Bitch! We'll kick yer ass!"

The one with the bat was about to attack her, but Edano stood from the bench they were sitting in, grabbing his shoulder tight. "No, we won't attack her. For what I read, she had brutalized entire gang groups in her region, we don't stand a chance." He whispered.

Edano didn't want to be beaten again, much less by a girl and in front of too many people who were watching the events transpire. "Fine, tough girl, what the hell do ya want?"

In an instant, she pulled a red blade from her guitar case, startling the three punks. "A-A SWORD! EDANO, CALL TERU NOW!" The only blonde of the group squealed with a glare of dread.

Edano only placed a hand in front of him. "You're stomping on our dignity as the gang of Black Vinegar High School, stop doing this shit and go to the fuckin' bathroom if you wanna pee so much!"

The sharp-haired blonde glanced below and saw how his pants were getting darker and wetter, meaning that he peed on them. He went out of the place with a girly scream coming from his throat.

The leader face-palmed before glancing to Ryuko, who was watching the whole scene with a face that could only mean  _"Stupefaction"_ on his purest state.

"Ignore him, he became a bit sensitive after the beatdown these bodybuilder bastards put us through, but I suppose you ain't carin' about that, " Edano placed his hands behind his head, leaning in the wall behind the bench. "What do ya want?"

When Ryuko recovered from her brief daze, she regained her hard gaze again. "Do you know  _White T-Poison_?"

Both Edano and his partner in crime stopped breathing, paled and their eyes widened, which alarmed Ryuko.

When they remained like that for more seconds than normal, Ryuko got impatient, and was about to yell a loud " _Well?!",_ but to her surprise, Edano came back from his trance.

"White T-Poison, you said? What do ya want from him...?"

Ryuko placed her blade up in her shoulders. "I want to find him, where's he?"

Instead of replying, Edano pulled his phone from his pockets and Ryuko's face acquired a menacing glare. "Hey! Who said you could pull your phone and avoid my question?! Answer me! I can tell you know something, ain't you?!"

The teenager just ignored her and waited for his call to being answered by the one he was calling, Teruki, and it did after some seconds.

"Yo, Teru! How's your day?...Mine's going great, too!"

The hint of sarcasm in Edano's voice didn't pass unnoticed by Ryuko, who couldn't help but furrow her eyebrows and say "Bite me!"

Edano ignored her again and continued with his call. "…Yes…you see, here's a girl searching for ya…no…she isn't very girly to begin with…"

Suddenly, Ryuko pointed her sword to his throat, startling his partner and causing him to fall from the bench due to the fear. Edano flinched and started to sweat profusely and coldly.

Her sapphire eyes were as threatening as her blade on his throat.

"Say some shit like that again and I'll cut something important, bastard!"

"…Y-Yeah, here at…at that flowery…yes…as fast as you can."

Edano hung.

And Ryuko was still glaring at him.

"Why'd you call that Terumiguy in the middle of your explanation!?" She yelled, only provoking Edano to raise his hands in what was a symbol of peace; retorting with something venomous while this girl had her blade  _too close_ to his throat simply wouldn't do.

"I called my friend, Teruki Hanazawa! He's a close friend of White T-Poison, s-so he'll tell you something…I assure you."

Ryuko seemed to consider his answer before placing her blade in her shoulders again and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Wouldn't have been better if you just asked that Hayakawa where White T-Poison was from your  _phone_?"

Edano and his companion glanced between each other before retreating from the place at full speed. "Hey! You prick! Where are you two runnin' to!?"

Her yells were in vain, as the High Schoolers were going further and further away from her. Realizing that yelling wouldn't work, she sat in the bench and sighed, leaning in the wall and letting her body relax.

"Fuck…These guys are real assholes…!"

She still remembered how she ended up here; She started asking people about the so-called " _White T-Poison,_ focusing mainly on the thugs, Ryuko could recall how they were astonished at knowing that  _she_ was searching for the  _amazing White T-Poison._ Once she beat them mercilessly and with bare hands after they challenged her to  _"Prove herself worthy of knowing that",_ their leader, someone called Wet Rat and that seemed to have a brain further developed than your average punk, appeared an told her that the individual known as White T-Poison lived in Seasoning City from Chubu, which was pretty close to Kansai, the region she was in before, so the traveling in the train from Osaka took six hours or so, and it was proving itself  _worth it,_ she was stepping closer to this bastard who was strangely respected by every person who knew about him.

Ryuko opted for taking a short break, and waiting for that guy the last idiot she found called.

Her sapphire eyes shifted towards the now orangish sky; it was afternoon, and it wouldn't take too long for night to arrive, which meant she would also have to find a place to rest after she met this Teraki guy, that was his name, right?

"This is pretty unexpected."

Teruki arrived pretty fast to the scene only for him to see a girl with a black and white jacket with rolled up sleeves, a black mini-skirt and black hair with a red bang. Aside from her, there was an empty guitar case.

The girl glanced to the side only to see a teenager that looked about her age, with yellow short hair, a pink shirt, and gray pants, also, he was using flip flops instead of shoes.

"You're Hayakawa?"

"In the flesh…and it's Hanazawa." He corrected with a half smile. "My friend Edano called and told me a girl was searching for me, it was you?"

Ryuko could tell with a glance that this guy wasn't a punk like those other three, but that only made things easier, at least she wouldn't have to aim her sword towards something important with him, or, well, at least she expected it to be that way.

"Not really, I'm searchin' for some Poison guy that lives here, and they said you're friend of him, so I thought you could tell me where he is."

" _Poison?"_

"Yeah,  _White T-Poison."_ She repeated.

The only friend Teruki had that was called " _White T-Poison"_ was Shigeo, he knew it because all the punks in the city referred to him by using that nickname. "I'll tell you, but first, why are you searching for him? He isn't very popular between girls, just for you to know."

Teru had a theory which implied this girl was a fan of White T-Poison after hearing the stories about him. She sure thought of him as a brawny, tall and imposing guy, and if that was the case, she would be so disappointed.

Ryuko raised her sword, which was on the left, where Teruki couldn't see it, even though it was pretty big. She pointed it to him as she stood from the bench. "I heard he's familiar with this blade, that's why. I can't give two shits if he's popular between girls or not, I have to find him." Ryuko retorted with a scowl in her face.

The blonde's eyes widened and his face twisted into an impressed one, his eyes widening and his mouth slightly open. "Mind telling me what you're doing with something so dangerous in hands?" He asked, only for her to ground her teeth. "So you know about this huh?! Spit everything you know  _now!"_

_She closened the distance between him and the blade._

"No…you're misinterpreting things, I don't know anything about your blade," Teruki affirmed raising his hands in a signal of peace. "But I certainly didn't ever saw one like this in my life."

The Esper knew about common swords, katanas and whatever were on the list of sharp weapons, but he didn't ever saw a blade resembling a scissor, and this one certainly did. The blonde started to touch her sword, much for Ryuko's astonishment, and the most surreal part was that he was passing his hand across the sharp edge as if it was a pillow.

"H-Hey! Don't do that idiot! Are you a masochist or what!?"

Teruki retreated his hand and placed it inside a pocket. "Sorry, I thought it was a toy for a second."

The hell? This crazy bastard  _really_ mistook this blade for a  _toy?_

Ryuko had to remind herself why she was here in the first place, and so she did. "Look, I don't give a fuck if you're mistaking my blade for a toy, do you know where White T-Poison is or not? I ain't have time for a chit-chat with you,"

"You're pretty gruff, know that?"

When Ryuko was about to yell something threatening, Teru acted fast and spoke first, the sad tone of his voice alone was enough for her to stop. "I'm sorry to tell you, but Kageyama isn't here anymore. Ten days ago, he received an invitation to study in a faraway place, and he left just today in the morning."

Ryuko was told about where White T-Poison lived in the morning, too.

The girl was taken back by these words for a brief moment, before her face snapped into a wrathful one, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she grounded her teeth.

This was a shit! She came all the way here only to find out that the bastard she was searching went to another place?! She wouldn't take that!

"You…You expect me to believe that crap you just came up with!?"

Teruki's silence said everything, his look…that stupid merciful glance was sickening! It made her feel so weak, she wasn't weak, damn it!

"Why are you looking at me like that!? I don't need your stupid pity, prick!"

Ryuko crouched and grabbed her guitar case harshly, packing her blade inside and standing to clench her fists. "So what if he went somewhere else!? I'll go and search him just like I did here! Where'd he go!?"

"Just to clarify things, are you totally sure Kageyama knows that blade you have? I wonder if someone fooled you saying he did."

She ground her teeth again, walking and taking Teruki by the shirt in a disrespectful manner, which only served to piss Teru off,  _a bit._

"So!? It's not as if I have any other hint, I prefer going this way rather than losing my time in a pointless search for another five months! Tell me where he went!"

The blonde tried to take her hand off of him gently, but she didn't seem to be in agreement with the idea, and her hold only tightened as her sapphire eyes fixated on him in a perpetual and hard scowl. Just what was up with this girl? Edano was right, she wasn't girly, not at all, even though she had a pretty face.

"What have you been searching for five months anyway? I thought you had a busy life when you told me you didn't have time for ' _chit chat'._ "

"I have! I…!"

What had she been doing in the last months? Searching for her father's murder in order to avenge her progenitor, right? Yes, because she knew she had the guts to  _avenge_ him…right?

"Whatever it is, I suggest you to not do so  _alone_ , do you have someone to aid you in finding what you're searching."

She could no longer see him at the eyes when he brought the " _Someone to help"_ matter. She never had someone to be there for her really, her father was always too focused on work, ever since she was a child, and as to herself, she became a loner, someone who thought that friends would make her seem weak.

That didn't change, not even now.

"You…You don't care about that."

Teruki remained still for a few seconds before noticing that her hold became weak, enough for him to gently apart her hand off. "I see."

His supposition was true.

If what he thought was true and this girl had been searching for someone in Japan, without a person to help her, and moreover, if she intended to keep up like this…things would become complicated,  _for her._

"What is this you're so focused on? It must be important if you had been on it for five months."

"…Just tell me where he went, you  _don't_ care about me or my goals."

Oh, the dear lies. She didn't have any goal apart from finding her father's murder.

And Teruki didn't know if he could stand all the sadness, anger and frustration welling up in her eyes, as readable as an open book.

He was done.

He sighed.

"Honnō City."

Ryuko glanced to him with a now stunned gaze. Just when she thought this guy wouldn't tell her, he comes and does  _that._

"Honnō City…" She thought aloud, letting Teru hear her. "That's where White T-Poison went…?"

"Of course," Teruki assured, feeling  _slightly_ better at seeing that small spark of hope in her eyes that she, without knowing, was showing.

Ryuko recalled back when he told her that White T-Poison, or Kageyama as he called him, went to study in a faraway place, and the only academy in Honnō, for what she read, was Honnōji Academy.

Wait.

That could be useful; if White T-Poison ended up not knowing crap about her scissor blade, then she could ask the governor of that place if she knew something, although she had her doubts about the Kiryūins being associated with a murderer, it was worth a shot.

When Ryuko spun around with the intent to leave the place, she stopped in her tracks and glanced behind. "Uh…You, thanks for telling me, I guess."

Teruki smirked.

"No problem, you were too stubborn for me to not do so anyway," He let out a chuckle, which confused Ryuko.

Just what was so funny? Was he mocking her for being herself or what? Shame on her, she didn't understand social cues very well.

"What's your name?"

The question was actually…unexpected, few to no persons were interested in her rather than trying to mock and molest her, but she always gave these people what they deserved. Someone who actually wanted to know her name was…refreshing, to say the least.

"I'm Ryuko, Ryuko Matoi."

"Well, Matoi, it's a pleasure to meet you, " The blonde stepped towards her calmly and outstretched his hand. Ryuko looked at it for a brief moment before taking the hand of Teruki. This was the part where she should say " _Nice to meet you"_ right?

"Heh, nice to meet you too."

"What are you going to do now?"

Ryuko let go off of his hand and thought about her answer; if she went right now to the subway from Seasoning City, she bet the train would make it to Honnō in sort of four or five hours, and she could take that time to sleep inside the train. "Guess I'll go to buy a ticket to Honnō,"

"So sudden? I thought you would stroll here a bit longer, but, I won't question you, see you later!"

And just like that, Teruki left the place calmly.

Something told Ryuko this wouldn't be the last time she would see him, but whatever, she had a new location to go.

Honnō City!

* * *

"SHIGEO KAGEYAMA!"

The Esper was startled at hearing the booming voice of the probably most imposing person he ever met, Ira Gamagori. The man was tall, and by tall, he meant brutally tall, at least four times his size if not more. He had short, combed and yellow hair, his skin was a bit dark, and…had he already recall how tall Gamagori was?

The Disciplinary Committee Director also wore a white uniform with tons of silver spikes in the shoulders, metallic gauntlets which had three spikes on them, and his feet had spikes, too. These were the  _"Three-Star"_ uniforms Sanageyama told him about in their way to Honnō.

"Yes?"

"Did you intended to leave the premises of this academy and walk to your apartment in the One-Star district  _without_ your keys!?" As Gamagori spoke at the top of his lungs and towering over Shigeo in an impossible way, a girl in the same room as them giggled.

"Forgive him, Shige, the Toad is just too happy to see someone like you here that he can't help but roar to the four winds, hilarious."

That voice belonged to Nonon Jakuzure, the director of the Non-Athletic Committee. She had pink hair, a skull-marked hat and always had a baton with her. Her uniform was white without pants, ending in a skirt that reached the middle of her legs and short sleeves. The three stars were located in her small chest, which also had a white tie.

"Mind your tongue, Jakuzure!" Gamagori ordered, only for Nonon to retort with "Bite me!"

Shigeo glanced to the side and saw the person known as Inumuta sitting in a chair and glancing at him doing what he was so fond of doing, AKA get information and data about him, an Esper. Shigeo lifted up a cup in the room for Inumuta to see, and to his surprise, Inumuta's eyes widened before he typed in his computer compulsively. His almost childish interest on him was a bit amusing.

"Incredible…" Inumuta's gaze shifted to the cup floating before he returned to his laptop. "This is an important piece of data I'll store carefully…" The teal-haired Elite-Four mumbled.

Whenever Inumuta didn't talk, his uniform, which had a zipper in the up part to cover his mouth, said zipper closed, and his mouth couldn't be seen by anyone. Strangely, whenever he talked, it opened as if it was the product of psychic force, but Inumuta lacked ESP, so it had to be part of his uniform.

"Look at the Dog, he's happy too,"

Inumuta's uniform was white with a neck collar that opens and closes whenever he speaks and didn't speak, other than that, his uniform was quite the normal, except for the tiny spikes in the shoulders and the plenty of pockets around his waist, which had one spike in each pocket. His sleeves, which were large, became black at the end.

Shigeo glanced to the only girl in the room apart from Satsuki, who was sitting in her " _throne_ " sipping the tea prepared by Mitsuzo Soroi, who was an old man.

"Really? That's nice, I feel better knowing that someone is happy to meet me." The Esper affirmed, earning a narrowed glance from Nonon. "What is nice about a monkey, a dog and a toad being happy at you?"

The other three of the Elite-Four glared at her, and she only smirked arrogantly.

"That I can become friends with them, that's why it's nice. Are you glad to meet me too, Jakuzure?"

"Me? Well…"

Now that Nonon fixated in that black and rather spiky hair, it made him look pretty handsome, but that was about it, he seemed…pretty average in everything else.

"I suggest you go to your apartment and rest for tomorrow's day, Shigeo Kageyama."

The voice of Satsuki reached his ears, and the Esper nodded. "You're right, I have to sleep well, tomorrow is the first day," Shigeo waved his hand in farewell to everyone and left the room.

When he left…

"Man, my sword is itching to fight with him!" Sanageyama yelled aloud, breaking what little calmness the room could get whenever Satsuki spoke. "Lady Satsuki, can I battle with him tomorrow? I want to test my capabilities against an Esper."

The woman who was sitting stood from her seat and with an imperative tone, she said "Not yet. Your encounter with him shall wait for a special occasion, Sanageyama."

The green-haired man grinned.

"Alright, so long as I get to fight with him, I'll patiently wait."

And so, Satsuki finished the meeting. "You all can leave, my Elite-Four. Tomorrow, the classes will commence, and you all shall prepare for it."

The Elite-Four bowed before her as she left the meeting room. "As you wish, Lady Satsuki." Everyone said.

* * *

Shigeo hummed to himself as he undressed and put on his clothes to sleep, which were inside the backpack he carried. The way down here was large, he had to admit that Honnō was very big in comparison to other cities he had been in, such as Cuticle City, where he and Reigen hunted urban legends years ago. He shivered at the memory of the only urban legend that could send shivers down his spine.

The Dash Granny.

Hopefully, he would never see her again.

He glanced around and witnessed just how well-done this room was; there was a small table close to the entrance, an unexpected couch, a  _bunk_ bed, a window which allowed him to see the almost void streets of the One-Star district, a fridge that revealed to have enough supplies to last a week, and that was all there it was, the color of the apartment was a nice light yellow. Oh, and the bathroom, he almost forgot about the bathroom.

Mob sat comfortably in his new couch and thought about the day.

"What drove me to accept the invitation in the first place…?"

That question was derivated by another question that Satsuki made to him after they both met. " _What drove you to accept the invitation letter from my mother, Shigeo Kageyama?"_ was that question, and now Shigeo was thinking about it. Accepting was a good decision? He thought it would be okay to try new things and all of that, new experiences here, that was what he expected.

He wouldn't doubt his own decision.

"Dunno, maybe because you wanna some fun here?"

Shigeo thought about that before retorting "Yes, that could be it."

"Then why are you questioning yourself that much? Give yourself a break and enjoy your time here as long as it will last, big bro!"

The black-haired esper sighed before smiling and affirming "I'll do!"

 _Wait_ …

That voice wasn't Suzuki's…?

Shigeo's dark red eyes shifted to the upper bed from the bunk, which was the zone from where the voice came and, strangely, he wasn't surprised at what he saw.

Ginger hair that was disheveled and going a bit backward with a big fleck in the front, three-pronged eyebrows, blue eyes full of life, a dark red shirt beneath a dark green open jacket with rolled up sleeves and deep blue pants were the characteristics of the person sitting cross-legged in the upper bed.

Both Espers locked gazes for a moment, and Shigeo rubbed his eyes.

"Suzuki?"

"In the flesh! Who'd you thought I was? I doubt someone can emulate me well enough to look as good as me."

Sho did a little hop to the floor in order to not hit his head with the ceiling and managed to do so despite his height, almost reaching that of his father's now.

"Quite the comfy room they gave you, buddy," Sho admitted as he glanced around with a smirk.

"What are you doing here?" Shigeo inquired, earning a false sorrowful glance from him. "Huh? Can't I visit my old friend once in a while?"

"It's not that, it's that you disappeared for ten days, where'd you been?" Shigeo asked, now provoking Sho to avert his gaze. "Heh, I was just coming to terms with my mother's death, I…I needed some time alone."

The way Sho just outright revealed that he was doing what he said he was doing was brand new for Mob; last year, he became very distant and avoided the matter at all costs. This was a change, and Shigeo didn't know if consider it good or bad.

"But enough of sad memories! What about you?"

"Me?"

Sho entered the bathroom and checked himself in the mirror; these three-pronged eyebrows weren't of his liking at the start, but he got accustomed and even grown fond of them. He grew fond of his fleck, too.

"Yeah, you. Enjoying this place?"

Shigeo thought briefly about that; was he enjoying this place? How could he know that when he hadn't even lasted a day here?

"I'll need some time to answer that, Suzuki."

"Figured it."

The ginger-haired esper hiked out of the bathroom and climbed to the upper bed through the ladders, earning a mildly surprised glance from Shigeo. "What are you doing?"

"What does it seems? Taking, " Sho took his jacket off and launched it to the camera of the room, wrapping it around the camera with a large tie that was conveniently inside a drawer before the jacket fell. He previously deactivated the camera with Technokinesis, an ability copied from  _another Esper_ , but knowing that geek of Inumuta, they wouldn't take too long in working again, so he was taking precautions. "A, " Sho undressed and dressed in less time than a blink, startling Shigeo due to the speed. "Nap."

With that, Sho covered himself with a blanket, not before turning the air conditioner on of course with the remote control, and accommodated himself between two pillows from the same upper bed.

"I say you do the same, bro, we need to rest for tomorrow cuz tomorrow's a new day!"

Mob raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "We?"

His companion groaned and changed from the position he was sleeping on. "Yes,  _we,_ I'll be with you here, I'm  _curious_ about this place."

"Oh, that's okay then, we're here for the same reasons, Suzuki," Shigeo affirmed, accepting the fact that Sho was going to sleep  _here._  "Yeah yeah, I'm sleeping now, don't wake me."

"Fine."

The light of the room turned off and Shigeo glanced around in confusion. "You turned the lamps off?" The black-haired esper questioned, earning a nod from Sho, yes, in the position he was, and in the darkness of the room.

It was obvious that Shigeo wouldn't be able to know if he said " _Yes"_ or  _"No"_ unless he  _spoke._ "Suzuki?"

"I said yes, damn it."

"You did?" Shigeo scratched his head at the statement. Sho certainly didn't say anything, not that he could hear. "Sorry then, I thought it was a ghost or something."

"We would've known if a ghost entered this room, we're Espers," Sho spoke, but came out as a mumble that Mob could barely hear. "You're right, I'll take a rest. Good night Suzuki."

Sho made false snores, and Shigeo smiled. Perhaps his friend recovering from his mother's death was a good thing after all.

Mob yawned and shuffled to the bed below Sho's in order to lay on it.

Mob covered with blankets.

And Mob closed his eyes, being slowly drifted to sleep.

* * *

Responsibility was one of the most prominent features of Sho Suzuki; he always cleaned his room, he always did the homework his mother left for him in her successful attempts at educating him, he always had his things properly accommodated.

That didn't change, it was highly unlikely that it ever would.

When Shigeo blearily opened his eyes due to being woken up by the resounding sound of Honnōji Academy's bell, he witnessed the plenty of objects, artifacts and even a  _hamster_ that didn't belong to him placed in a way that only a perfectionist would do, he was slightly astonished.

Who did these things belong to?

The noise of the chain from the toilet being pulled provoked all the memories from yesterday to hit him suddenly.

One of these memories was himself letting Sho sleep here in the bed from above.

Not to his surprise, the other Esper that slept on the room shuffled out from the bathroom and yawned at the same time he stretched his arms. Sho glanced at him with eyes widened and spoke with a flat tone, not his usual smarty, and amused tone. "I see you woke up, how convenient, and here I thought I would need to wake you up."

Shigeo took the blankets off of him and yawned as well. "What hour it is…?"

" _Twelve o'clock"_

Mob processed the words that came out of his friend's mouth. He said it was twel…

Twelve!?

When Sho saw the desperate face that Shigeo did without knowing, he chuckled. "Just kidding! It's six o'clock, didn't think you'll believe it at all, I mean, that  _air siren_ noise is to wake up every student in this place at the  _exact_ hour they need to wake up."

_Phew._

The black-haired esper sighed in relief. "Your jokes aren't fun, Suzuki."

"You're the last person on earth who should tell that to me," Sho affirmed as he pointed an accusative finger to Mob, who just stood up from the bed and hiked to the bathroom. Once he was done with his needs, Shigeo opened the door only to find Sho sitting on the edge of the open window. "Man, this is so high! If we were normal people, jumping from here would give us a ticket to hell!"

"Suzuki, we're normal, it's just that we have our own talent."

"By talent you're talkin' about ESP right?'

Mob nodded, and Sho sighed. "Your perspective of this world is far bigger than mine I see…"

And it was. For Shigeo, every living thing in this world had the same value, from the smallest insect to the tallest spectrum, even though the ghosts weren't living things, they still had the same value for him.

His main reason to exorcize evil spirits was that he wanted to put them, and the people they bothered out of their misery; an evil spirit was a soul corrupted by the negative emotions, such as resentment, anger, stress, hatred, sadness and a bunch of more other feelings he didn't care to mention.

Even the scariest spirit was once human.

That didn't count with spirits such as the Dragger, of course.

" **Students who have the privilege to study in the sacred academy that is Honnōji! I am Ira Gamagori, proud member of the Elite-Four from this academy and director of the Disciplinary Committee, listen carefully!"**

The booming voice echoing thanks to the PA system couldn't belong to any other person than Gamagori, who seemed to be IN LOVE with the prospect of yelling at the top of his lungs. Sho covered his ears, irked at this obvious fact.

" **Here comes the five most important rules you all shall follow unless you all seek to be punished harshly! ONE: Every student in Honnō**   **will bow before Lady Satsuki whenever she appears, anyone who is not willing to follow that rule shall be reprimanded mercilessly!"**

Sho felt in the middle ages at hearing these words. What kind of rule was that? It was plain wrong to be punished just because you won't bow before someone, this wasn't the fucking middle ages.

" **TWO: You all must salute and address Lady Satsuki properly whenever you are in her presence, anyone who does not follow, be a No-Star or even a Two-Star student will be reprimanded!"**

"Man, that guy sure adores licking that Satsuki's balls…"

Shigeo flatly glanced to Sho. "But, Sho, Satsuki is a woman."

The ginger-haired esper remained still for a moment before letting out a nervous laugh.

"Hahaha! W-Well…Yes! She's a woman! That's why I said that  _Gamagori_ loved to kiss her  _feet_! You have to clean your ears better, bro!"

"You did? Sorry then."

" **THREE: Anyone who retaliates against being punished by his superiors will be reprimanded ten times worst!"**

That was…wrong.

" **FOUR: We have a strict code of uniform, if someone is caught without his uniform inside the school, that person will be expelled for a whole week, which will lead to permanent expulsion because our absence limit is FIVE!"**

"THAT'S SHIT," Sho yelled to the wind, earning glances from One-Star students who were walking like stupid zombies in the streets. Shigeo, on the other hand, was drinking milk from the fridge, he loved milk.

" **FIVE: Anyone who commits an act of treason against Honnōji or a crime that compromises this glorious Academy will be immediately apprehended and his fate will be decided by the Student Council, which will always lead to execution!"**

These idiots were apeshit and Sho didn't have a doubt that everything the behemoth was spitting was true. They were crazy, and that was a problem, because once Shigeo got a hold of how this place truly was, he would most likely try to leave, and he would need to think of a way of making him  _stay_. **"These are the ironclad rules created by Lady Satsuki! Now then, let the Evaluation Day commence!"**

For Shigeo, well, these were the strangest and most questionable rules he had to abide in his life, now he was internally wondering if it was better for him to not have entered this place.

"Well, I'm gonna have some fun outta here, see ya!"

With that, the powerful Esper hopped from the window and went in a freefall to the ground, leaving Shigeo alone with his thoughts.

He had to wear his uniform today, he reminded himself.

* * *

Strolling close to a green zone from the One-Star district, Mob came to halt and found himself in front of the rail that went upwards, waiting for the tram. Apparently, the tram's activity commenced in the lowest district of the city, AKA the slums. Between the One-Star district and the slums, the difference of wealthiness was brutal, he witnessed just how poor that place was when he walked alongside with Sanageyama yesterday. He said it was a necessary problem.

Mob was still confused by that, and Sanageyama didn't seem too interested in the matter when he said these words.

He was lost in his thoughts while looking at the blue sky, it was one, if not his only  _"Hobby",_ the Esper didn't know if consider hunting evil spirits was a hobby, he perceived it more as what it was, a middle-time work.

But he enjoyed the ramen and the takoyaki after the job.

The tram arrived at the district and stopped, letting the people who were waiting in the tram stop enter. Curiously, almost all of them shared the exact same appearance, the same bowl haircut, the same uniform and the  _same_   _face_.

Creepy.

Mob noticed something  _important._

He couldn't fit inside.

And the tram wouldn't stay still forever. He recalled some words which were spoken by Reigen to him back when he was a middle schooler.

' _Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.'_

Mob stared at the tubes from the tram.

"Should I…?"

It could work; his body was in good shape after the diligent training regime from the Body Improvement Club, so he could hold on to the tubes for a long time with his hands and legs.

Mob did a thing that only Reigen would do in a situation like this.

He held on to the tubes, earning the startled glances from students who were No-Star.

His master would be so proud.

With that, the tram moved on.

The sounds of the small herd of students' mumbling things between themselves reached his ears, such as " _I'm so lucky I got in this place!"_ and on contrast, words like  _"I hate the shitty houses these guys gave me and my family"_ , and, after many minutes and after passing through the Two-Star district, which was by far the richest one, the tram arrived at the Academy entrance, which was triangular.

Once every student walked off of the tram, every one of the new ones such as the first graders and few from higher graders stared in awe at the entrance's size.

It was by a long way the biggest that Shigeo saw in his life.

Nevertheless, he still moved onto the academy, it was  _6:47_ and he didn't want to come late in his first day, punctuality was important. Once he entered…

His dark red eyes widened, showing how truly amazed he was at the breath-taking insides of the high school. It was almost surreal to think that a school could have this length, height, and size, and judging by the gasps, squeals, and exclamations from plenty of students, they sure thought the same.

The tall walls seemed so far in the distance, and a gigantic building could be seen in the front, Shigeo noticed this when an astounded guy pointed a finger to it. That was obviously the place where classes took place, and he wouldn't lose time here, so the Esper trotted over the courtyard, this was a good chance to do some exercise.

When he arrived at the building, he saw two halls and some stairs that led to the second of many floors the place had, and his intuition told him to go through the stairs, and so he did.

His intuition was pretty good because he found himself in a hall that conducted to a strange looking door which had a label aside in the wall that had " _2nd Grade-Class K"_ written on it.

Apparently, this room was the one where the tutor for his grade worked. Yesterday, Gamagori said that your tutor's classroom was the place you had to go every week's first day.

Shigeo knocked in the door, which was of pure steel and like these of the bunkers from the movies. After some seconds, he heard footsteps and the door opened.

A man with a face that could only mean " _Boredom_ ", glasses, blue messy hair and white clothes appeared. "You're a new student, pass." He let out with a tired tone. Even though this was the very first day, this man was already wanting it to end?

Mob stepped inside the room and met the glances from the different students. They were…normal, there wasn't anything peculiar.

Just when he was about to go and take a seat, the professor placed a hand in his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. "Will you introduce yourself?"

Oh.

He forgot about that part. "Yes, teacher," Shigeo turned to face the glances of the other teenagers in the classroom. "Good morning everyone, I'm Shigeo Kageyama, it's a pleasure to meet you all!" He said a little too fast. Maybe he overcame his fear to the crowds, but it still put him on…edge? No, that wasn't the right word…it still  _stressed_  him somehow? Maybe  _that_ was the word.

It was okay, it was okay to be defective, he was human after all.

In his mind, the Body Improvement Club yelling  _"IT'S ALL ABOUT GUTS KAGEYAMA!"_ resounded, like a thunder.

It motivated him.

That, coupled with the fact that no one seemed to react at what he said, was what washed all his insecurity away. If Reigen met these guys, he would surely think of them as " _Mobs",_ just like he did with him many years ago.

A girl was even sleeping and snoring without a care of the world, a large bubble of snot was dripping each time she breathed, and it didn't seem as if she was going to wake from her deep slumber anytime soon.

It seemed…

"Shigeo! Come here, this desk is free! We can be desk neighbors! We'll be, right? Right?"

The Esper was startled at the sudden outburst of the brown-haired girl, and the teacher raised an eyebrow. "Have you two met before?"

"No." Mob flatly said, earning a glance from the teacher, who was previously looking to the girl as she striked many poses and continued with her rambling about how much she wanted him to be her desk neighbor. "Know about hyperactive people, kiddo?"

Shigeo nodded in response, his master was a bit like that sometimes, he wasn't able to stop himself from moving constantly. "Well, Mankanshoku is like that, go take that seat then."

And so, Shigeo sat in the desk, placing his backpack in the floor and pulling a notebook, a pencil, and more other utensils before he felt something in his left ear, like,  _breath._ He glanced to the side naively and, to his astonishment, he found himself  _awkwardly_ close to the hyperactive chick from before.

Her noses were literally touching.

"H-Huh!?"

A light from the room exploded due to  _some_ of Mob's power escaping. As he grew up, he became more and more in control with his immeasurable energy, which led to him not hiding his emotions any longer and voicing his thoughts more often, but still, some of that power couldn't be contained forever.

At least his powers didn't hurt anyone when he let some escape, and that was fine.

Shigeo flinched, almost falling from his desk. He glanced to the professor, who didn't seem to care about a single situation going on in the room and was totally focused on giving his class about the Second World War along with writing activity in the chalkboard, then the Esper glanced again to the identified as Mankanshoku.

She was looking at him with expectant amber eyes, as if she was waiting for him to say something.

Mob did everything he could to regain his composure and spoke a proper greeting. "Nice…It's nice to meet you."

Pff.

"Good morning Shigeo! I, Mako Mankanshoku, will be your lovable desk neighbor!" The now identified as Mako striked a pose before staring at him again. "Whoa! You have very nice hair! It's so spiky yet is so soft! I wish I had it!"

Shigeo was surprised when he felt her hand across his hair before she retracted her arm from him. "How do you make it be like that, Shigeo? It's amazing! Fitting for my first friend if you ask me!"

That actually got Mob off guard. This Mako…she didn't have any friends?

He would take the place as her friend then. "Of course, we're…friends, Mako."

"Okie-dokey! What do you like to do, Shige?"

Another strange thing. The number of people who called him  _"Shige"_ could be counted with the fingers of one hand, but Mako came and outright called him " _Shige"_ , it was…weird.

"I like to sit in the grass and watch the sky."

He had nothing more than that in mind, telling her that he was an exorcist who was paid 300 yen the hour wasn't a nice matter to start a conversation with, even though his payment now was 900 yen the hour.

"Really? Me too! There was a time when I was watching the sky and someone was murdered in front of me, but I didn't notice, I was too busy thinking of unicorns! That's very common in the slums, where I and my family live, people are killed every 24/7 but that's no problem!"

Mob felt genuinely unnerved at Mako's carelessness at someone's death, that wasn't something you could talk about with such a cheerful tone, death was depressing.

Although…if that happened every day as she told him, then he couldn't blame her, Mako was obviously accustomed to that.

"It makes me glad that your family is doing well, Mako."

"Yup! I've been studying here since first grade, and ever since I never got a Goku Uniform! But I'll still go forward no matter what, that's who the Mankanshokus are!"

That confident grin she was showing when she said these words provoked a smile to form in Mob's lips. Even though she was in the lowest and worst district in the massive city, her positivity didn't crumble, not even a bit. This was something refreshing for Shigeo, as most of the people in his city complained about stuff such as the costs of the services, unable to see how fortunate they were to have what they have.

Little did Shigeo know, that Honnōji Academy had in store plenty of refreshing stuff…maybe to many for his taste.

And this was only the start.


	4. Chapter 4

_My first two reviews are something I'll treasure dearly, man, why does it feel so good when you get good feedback? Feel free to voice your good opinion, if they are bad, then I won't care!_

_Nah, just kidding, both nice and bad feedback is welcome, if anything, maybe one of these "bad" feedback helps me to improve myself in this._

_If there is someone wondering, Sho's appearance on this story is based on a certain image of an Ageswap AU that's out there, good luck finding it!_

_Enjoy._

* * *

" _ **Cycles"**_

* * *

Mako was one definitely one of a kind.

She already revealed that the only friends she had before him were the ones in her head, and she said  _that_  in such a cheerful manner, that Shigeo feared for her sanity, but other than that, Mako was just a sweet, goofy and hyperactive girl who wanted a friend, and well, she had one now.

"Mako, you studied here since first grade, right?"

"Yeep!"

"Is there good clubs here you recommend me?"

To be honest, after all the funny moments Shigeo passed along with his friends of the Body Improvement Club and the Telepathy Club, he developed an aversion to what Reigen called  _"Going-Home Club"._

"Of course, Shige! There are plenty! And when I say plenty, I mean plenty of plenty! I'm on the Tennis Club! It's so fun! Our president has sharp teeth even!"

_Tennis._

Mob wasn't specially good for sports, he was a lousy player in almost all of them, football, basketball, volleyball, and all that stuff weren't for him. But…

He came here to taste new things, no? That was his main reason, moreover, the training with Musashi and the others put him in good shape,  _maybe, h_ e would give it a try with the basketball club, if there was one, to begin with.

_No._

He would  _definitely_ give it a try with the basketball club.

"Is there a basketball club?"

"Nope!"

Oh.

Well, that was inconvenient, now he didn't know which club he would join. The Esper decided to let that matter for later. "Why don't you join the Tennis Club Shige? We can both see each other if you do!"

Tennis could be another option, yes. "I'll think of it later, Mako, for now, we should do the activ-"

In less than a blink, Mako was asleep, just as she was when he arrived, and it felt extremely surreal. Shigeo touched her in the cheek with a finger and she didn't react, meaning that she was totally unconscious, but still, Shigeo couldn't help but smile.

Her behavior was so unnatural, yet Mob couldn't stop himself from growing fond of her in the last three hours they had been in the classroom, she was so active, so cheerful, and she was revealing herself to be pretty selfless, which was a thing Shigeo shared with her, not for nothing he hid his powers and emotions for most of his life, he no longer did that, but that was because he gained better control over his massive energy and that led to his powers being not likely to hurt anyone, which was the main reason as to why he refrained himself for so long in the first place.

Now he felt…free.

He yawned; it seemed that Mako's sudden sleepiness was a bit contagious, but only a  _bit._  Mob would finish the activity and  _maybe,_ take a short nap, Mako would probably wake him.

History was really boring.

Mob expected that once this Evaluation Day was over, they would...go to other classrooms, there were many others, right?

The sound of the door being knocked reached his ears, interrupting his thoughts. It was a complete mystery for him how someone could just go and knock on a door made of steel such as that of his classroom. He would just let it pass and finish his activity, though.

The blue-haired teacher stood from his seat and shuffled to the door of steel, opening it with the massive wheel it had in the center. Before him, a girl carrying a big guitar case, with a white and black uniform which had rolled up sleeves and a white shirt below, a black miniskirt and white sneakers. That defiant gaze and black hair with a red bang could only be of  _one_ person, and that person was the daughter of a friend that wasn't in this world anymore.

The daughter of Isshin Matoi, Ryuko Matoi.

If he was frank, Aikuro expected her to come, which also reminded him of another task he had and that, soon, he would accomplish.

"Pass." He boringly let out, standing aside to let the girl step into the room. Before she could take a seat, Ryuko was stopped by the man. "I'll introduce you."

Ryuko raised an inquisitive eyebrow and was about to ask why, but the teacher didn't wait for her question and flatly spoke. "This is Ryuko Matoi, a student transferred to Second Grade Class K today."

Now that was stuff Shigeo didn't know of. So there was a way to arrange a transfer in one day? That was nice, but odd, at least for him.

Ryuko accepted the different glances of the students. They were looking at her with faces that she perceived as bored or sad, except for a girl with a bowl cut, and there was  _that_ other, who curiously was the  _only_ one who was using a notebook.

That particular student glanced to her and was the first, and perhaps the last in greeting her. "Good morning, Matoi."

Aikuro reached up to her ear to whisper. "If I was you, I would try to get along with him, he's the most normal student over here."

The teacher's affirmation was solidified by the fact that no one apart from that guy of the spiky hair and notebook greeted or gave her the welcome, they only stared at her like lifeless statues. Ryuko's gaze fixated on the sleeping girl of the bowl cut, now that she could see her better…

Wasn't she the girl whose brother tried to steal a lemon from her today in the morning?

"RYUKO! Here! Here! This desk is free!"

Mako startled both Shigeo, who was aside from her, and Ryuko, who was close to the chalkboard. The brown-haired girl was pointing her fingers to a desk in front of her eagerly. "No one ever sat here! This is the first day but still, I know no one ever sat here! I can't believe you're going to be my desk neighbor! Want it? Don't want it? Want it?"

At all that dialogue, Ryuko could only retort with a simple sound.

"Oh."

Aikuro raised his eyebrows just as he did with Shigeo three hours ago. "You two know each other?"

The girl of the red streak blinked. "I can't say we're acquaintances."

The teacher sighed to the side and spoke. "Mankanshoku is like that…that'll be your seat then."

And so, Ryuko walked to the desk Mako energetically pointed her fingers to, she felt that sitting with these two would be better than doing so with all the other guys in this room, they both seemed…more alive.

"I'm Mako Mankanshoku!"

The hyperactive girl wasn't able to refrain herself from pulling another pose from beneath her sleeve. "Well, I'll be! How has your day been Ryuko?"

Ryuko sat in a way so she could face her. "Fine, I guess."

Even though this place was full to the core with thugs and punks, no one assaulted her after that boy's lame attempt, and that was something she didn't expect, not from a place where beaten people sat in the alleys and hatefully watched her, or where brats carried chains, knives and more ass-pulled things.

"Mine too! I've made my first  _real_ friend here!"

"First real friend…?"

Okay, she got it, this girl didn't have any friend apart from…her imaginary friends until this day. That was…odd.

"You mean?"

She didn't know if asking a person about his mental sanity was appropriate, so Ryuko leaned towards changing the matter, that sure was the best way to go.

"Here! Shige!"

Mob was hiking to the desk of the professor, his activity was surprisingly easy, which led to him finishing it in record time, and his walk towards him was interrupted by a  _certain_ someone.

"Mako…?"

In less than a blink, he was dragged by his newest friend to her seat, and she sat in his. His notebook was on the floor and Mako was smiling, as almost always. Before he could protest, Mako's cheek collided with his cheek, the girl embraced him with an arm to pull him closer and eagerly yelped "He's my best friend, Shige!"

Ryuko was staring perplexed at the two persons in front of her. Her mind just processed what happened before her eyes and it was too strange, Mako just stood from her desk and ran towards the now known as  _"Shige",_ only to drag him to the seat where she sat before, and it happened at such an unbelievable speed and suddenness that her mind needed time to take it all.

Nonetheless, Ryuko let the name roll in her tongue. "…Shige?"

Mob was starting to wonder if Mako forgot about his full name. "You can call me Mob."

The Esper outstretched his hand for her to shake it, and Ryuko did so. "Matoi, Ryuko Matoi."

Mob raised his eyebrows with curiosity as she let go of his hand. "Didn't the teacher said your name already?"

At these words, Ryuko's eyes widened and her cheeks got a light pink coloration. She averted her gaze with  _mild_ embarrassment. "Oh, right."

"Shige! Ryuko! I think I'm going to pee!"

In an instant and without asking the professor, Mako sprinted to the door, opened it with unexpected force and ran leaving a trail of smoke due to her fastness and both Shigeo and Ryuko watched the events transpire with stupefaction.

"Is she always like this…?"

The question Ryuko made to him was one that he didn't really know the answer but based on the three hours he spent with her, Shigeo guessed that…"Yes."

She glanced to him. "How'd you ended being her friend?"

Mob scratched his head and looked to the ceiling. "I told her I would be her friend."

"You said you were  _Mob,_ right?"

At that, Shigeo nodded. "Yes, Mob."

Ryuko stared at him with a deadpan. Where did that name come from and who would put it to their son was a total mystery for her, but she decided to not give it much importance. "Hey, uh, think you can tell me where White T-Poison is?"

"Who's White T-Poison?"

Surprisingly, Shigeo was completely clueless about that. "Nevermind, I guess you don't know if he's here because you don't even know him."

Mob just blinked. He was about to retort with something but he was interrupted by the noise the school's bell produced, indicating that it was time for the break, and both Ryuko and he stood from their seats. "I'll carry Mako's bag, she's still in the bathroo-"

It seemed that the world's odds LOVED to interrupt him every time he was about to say or end a phrase because, once the teacher and every one of the students in the room apart from he and Ryuko left, Mako appeared out of the blue and grabbed her bag. "Thanks a ton Shige!"

The Esper was startled once again and felt shivers go down his spine when he heard Mako behind. If she pulled one more of these, he might die of a heart attack.

The three left the room as Mako started to ask Ryuko about what she liked, and Shigeo hiked along with the two girls and couldn't but think that he forgot of  _something._

Meanwhile, in the now alone room.

"Oh, man…you're not the most careful guy out there I see."

Sho crouched and took his friend's forgotten notebook, and he could tell by the appearance that it wasn't one of these shitty and fragile notebooks he always bought at a small price in the corner's little market.

"You're lucky to have me, bro…"

Once these words were spoken, Sho used the  _refractor of light,_ rendering himself and the notebook invisible, with the goal of exploring the academy further, and watching over his friend's brother, of course.

* * *

"Ryuko."

The girl's gaze shifted to Shigeo, who was sitting in the bench where she, Mako and he sat. "What?"

Mob glanced to her and spoke. "You've been asking others where White T-Poison is, " The Esper raised one eyebrow. "Who's him?"

Ryuko remained silent for a moment before her gaze averted his and she looked to the ground. "I don't really know, but…" She stood from the bench and grabbed her guitar case, which she placed beneath the bench, confident in that no one would have the audacity, AKA the balls to steal it, and pulled a red blade about her own size from it. Mako, Mob and every student nearby watched the weapon with confusion, well, Mako was feeling amazed, but she was the only one feeling that. "…I was told that he was familiar with this blade."

The scissor blade wielder quietly looked the glances that Mako and Mob gave to her blade before Mako squealed. "A giant scissor! I hadn't known you carried toys with you, Ryuko! I thought you had a guitar like any other person and that you loved singing  _Bit by bit I'm falling under your spell_!"

"What!? This isn't a toy! Wait, don't touch it! Mako!"

Ryuko retreated the scissor blade from the girl's hand. "Aww! Why'd you not let me touch your toy Ryuko?"

"I said that  _this_ isn't a toy." She retorted as she placed the blade inside the guitar case again. First that Hazanawa guy mistaking her blade and now Mako, and she couldn't explain why, at least Mob seemed to know that this  _obviously_ wasn't a toy if the serious glance he was giving her said anything.

"Hey, what's with that look?"

"You know how dangerous it is for you to carry stuff like that, right?" Shigeo inquired, earning an angry look from the sapphire-eyed girl. "Huh? Are ya tryin' to boss me around?"

"No, I don't, but still, I hope you don't misuse that blade."

Ryuko sat in a masculine manner on the bench with a nonchalant face. "Whatever."

Mako hopped in front of the two teenagers and turned around, raising her hands to catch both attention. "I say we go see the school! Ryuko, I want you to know about this place, come with me! Shige already knows how it is, so he doesn't want to know more! See you later Shige!"

The brown-haired girl took Ryuko by the hand and with the other, she grabbed the scissor blade below the bench. "Mako! Wait!"

Her command fell on deaf ears as Mako dragged her around the place, and she couldn't help but glance at Mob's face of both stupefaction and concern.

In a moment, Shigeo was left alone, processing what he had just seen while glancing to the bench he was sitting on and then to the front, where Mako and Ryuko went, one against her own will, but that was almost comical.

He sighed.

Shigeo decided to just enjoy the view of the sky he had from here, but he couldn't avoid to see a shining light coming from the top of the academy. It was blinding and he actually had to cover his eyes, but if he focused enough, he was able to see a  _familiar_ shadow.

Wasn't that Satsuki? That long hair, it certainly looked like hers. Gamagori told him that he should show her the  _"Gratitude"_ she deserved when the time came, for giving him a dorm that no No-Star would normally be able to acquire. Yesterday, they offered a One-Star uniform to him, and to Gamagori's utter astonishment, he quietly denied it. Then he assigned him his dorm, to him and to the many students that were there yesterday, before taking him to the student council room, where he met Satsuki and all the Elite-Four members.

The Esper glanced to the front at hearing fast footsteps only to see Mako moving Ryuko by the hand all the way to the bench where he had sat for a long time.

Then she stumbled.

Shigeo reacted just in time and, with telekinesis, he stopped Mako and Ryuko from landing in the ground, Mako had her eyes oddly open waiting for her face to crash while Ryuko strongly closed hers, bracing for the impact.

The latter slowly half-opened her eyes hesitatingly before they widened in surprise. "What the fuck!?"

Ryuko glared to the person sitting in front of her with disbelief and witnessed how his body was surrounded by a strange colored aura. "That was close, Ryuko."

Mob placed Ryuko and Mako on their feet. "Whoa! That was awesome Shige! I wish I had your powers! You could be a hero and me your sidekick!  _The psychic duo!"_

The brown-haired girl's words were brutally shocking for the Esper, who was accustomed to persons reacting with awe at watching his powers for the first time, almost everyone did, and those who didn't, or it was because they were Espers too, or because they hadn't seen the true extent of his powers.

Mako would just go along with you and say " _I wish I had them, I could be your sidekick!"_ , and that was what she said, while Ryuko…well, she was acting as expected.

"The hell was that…!?"

In response at these words, Mob scratched his head with a sheepish smile on his lips. "You see…I appear to be an Esper."

Ryuko blinked dumbly at the flat explanation the self-proclaimed Esper gave her. "An Esper…? Like, you can bend spoons with your mind and stuff…?"

"Right. I can do that."

In a moment, Ryuko found herself floating few meters from Shigeo and Mako, the latter was watching her with shining eyes full of increasing curiosity and amazement coupled with exclamations of surprise like  _"Whoa"_ and  _"You're doing it again it's aweeeesome!"_  while the former only looked her cautiously with a hand aimed to her, who was floating, to not let her fall.

"H-Hey! Put me down, bastard!"

Unknown for them, they were being watched by almost every student in the courtyard, everyone was mumbling their impressions of the situation and some others were saying " _That's White T-Poison"_ in whispers.

Particularly, these ones were particularly close to them, and Ryuko  _heard all._

"Sorry." Shigeo apologized as he placed her down. "Hey." She called him.

"Yes?"

Ryuko didn't look at him for a moment until her gaze emerged with an almost…death glare? Dimple told him he made some of these when he got angry, was Ryuko angry at him for elevating her?

"Ryuko?"

"What was your name?" She questioned, but the tone she used along with the fact that she almost snarled were the indicators that she  _indeed_ was angry.

"Well, most of my friends call me Mob, well, actually not, only three do, but my real name is Kageyama, Shigeo Kageyama."

_Shigeo Kageyama._

That name…

_That name._

It couldn't be a mere coincidence that these guys called him White T-Poison and that he was named Kageyama, the same name Hanazawa used to refer to him. Ryuko pulled the scissor blade as calmly as she could before throwing the guitar case to the bench and pointing it to Mob, not so close, but not so far.

"You…You know who's the owner of the other half of this blade…?"

She was actually struggling to keep her cool with this, the death of her father had a great impact on her and the event was still fresh in her mind, but why was she refraining herself from yelling like she ever did?

Maybe it was because, during the short time the three passed with each other, he showed himself as a particularly kind person, proof of this was the fact that he hadn't let her and Mako fall to the ground prior to all of this, or when Mako accidentally hit herself with a tube in the hallways of the main building and he came to her aid with a concerned face, even though Mako was continuously and happily affirming that she was okay while her nose bleed in a surrealistic manner.

Or maybe because he was one of these  _few_ persons that actually wanted to get along with her, like Mako or Hanazawa.

Mako was glancing between Ryuko and Shigeo with a face that could only mean that she was clueless as to what was happening right now. Shigeo watched the red blade cautiously before quietly speaking. "No. I'm sorry, but I hadn't ever seen a blade like yours, Ryuko."

They remained silent for a moment.

Ryuko's snapped out from her glare closing her eyes, before placing the blade in her shoulder and huffing.

What a letdown. All the trip to here and that culminated in  _nothing_ , nothing at all.

"Are you angry?" Shigeo inquired with a worried face, and she shook her head. "No, I ain't angry," A mischievous smirk made its way to the girl's face. "You're afraid of me? Don't, I won't point this to ya."

Shigeo's formed a relieved smile. "It makes me glad, Ryuko. I promise I won't lift you again with my powers if you don't want to."

"No, you won't, because I'll kick your ass if you do."

The smile that was previously mischievous changed to…a smile, not her defiant, amused, smug or mischievous smirk, just that…a smile.

Shigeo was smiling too. "You will? You aren't afraid of my powers?"

"Heh, I bet I could still take on you, powers or not. I don't get why I should be afraid of you, apart from lifting things and all that, it's not as if having powers makes you any better or shit, besides, I've seen worst things."

The Esper's eyes widened in astonishment. She thought the same of him as Reigen and that was such a…such a wonderful thing. "Ryuko...thanks."

Ryuko blinked and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "For what?"

"For telling that to me."

Then, again, they went silent. It wasn't an awkward silence that two persons had when they ran out of stuff to talk about, and it was quite…enjoyable, at least for Mob. That lasted until a certain person intervened.

"I'm so happy my two besties are getting along! I also was going to ask you if you would like to see Tennis Club Shige! Want to? Don't want to? Want to?"

And so, Mako began with another of her ramblings, poses included, this time about how cool the Tennis Club was.

"She's so odd, but I like having her around, ya know, everyone and everything seems to be so off in this place…" She looked to the Esper, who was witnessing everything Mako was doing, paying attention both to her and to the girl standing by the side. "You're a weirdo, too, but I can get used to you."

Something about the way she called him " _Weirdo"_ didn't make it seem like an insult, unlike other times when he got called by that word. "I like having Mako around too, she's so cheerful and alive."

Ryuko noticed that they were being looked at by many students and felt slightly uneasy.

"Yeah, tha-"

"Ryuko! Shige! Bow! Bow!"

In an instant, both teenagers found themselves in the middle of a herd of students, a herd that was leaving a way for someone to pass. The crowd in front of them did the same, leaving a perfectly linear way.

"Mako!? How!? Huh!? Huh!?"

Ryuko was glancing repeatedly between her friend and the crowd of students with wide eyes and mouth, and Mob, well, he was already growing accustomed to Mako's randomness, but he was quite surprised, still.

"What is happening, Mako?" Mob questioned calmly. "We're gonna be punished by the lead of the Disciplinary Committee chair if we don't bow!"

Mako's exclamation turned the memory gears of Shigeo on. Of course! Gamagori said that everyone had to bow and address their superiors properly when they made act of presence in the courtyard, or in any other part of the school, including the bathroom.

"The hell? Is this an empire or shit like that…?"

The brown-haired girl nodded eagerly much to Ryuko's puzzlement. "Yup! And the queen of that empire is Lady Satsuki!"

Ryuko was reminded of something. She had to search for her father's killer, she was momentarily pulled out from that, and guess who were the  _two_ persons to blame?

"That Satsuki…is she the Top-Dog here?" Ryuko inquired, not bowing, but crouching. "Yep! She and her Elite-Four! Lady Satsuki bestows the Goku Uniforms the higher your abilities are ranked, and having a Goku Uniform also grants you a wonderful living place! Oh, speak of the devil! Look!"

Both Ryuko and Shigeo glanced to where Mako was pointing, and walking downstairs with an imposing aura of superiority towards everyone in the courtyard, there she was.

Satsuki Kiryuin.

"She's that Satsuki you're tellin' me about?"

At Ryuko's question, Mako nodded eagerly, as she enjoyed to do so. "Of course!"

The girl of the red streak didn't need anything more and strolled in the line towards Satsuki, who was walking down with a shining light behind, much to Shigeo and Mako's surprise.

Ryuko came to a halt halfway from the student council president, hands in her pockets and standing confidently, earning various looks from the plenty of students that were in the courtyard.

"So, I heard you're the queen bee of this place, I have a question for ya!"

A group of One-Star's pounced over her while yelling simultaneously "Bitch! How dare you!?", only to be roughly beaten at ridiculous ease in an instant with the guitar case. Ryuko pulled her blade from the case before spinning it around her wrist and pointing it to Satsuki, whose eyes mildly widened.

When Ryuko placed her scissor blade in the guitar case again was a complete mystery for Shigeo.

Plenty of students on the crowds mumbled exclamations of surprise like " _A scissor!?"_ or " _Half a scissor…?"_ before Mako squealed eagerly. "Your scissor!"

"That's right. This is half of a pair of giant scissors, and I'm searching for the owner of the other half, want to know somethin', prez? You looked shocked to see this just yet, aren't you? Admit it! You've seen my scissor blade!"

Satsuki's condescending gaze fixated on her before the governor of Honnoji tilted her head back slightly and spoke in an unimpressed tone. "And what if I have?"

Ryuko's previously confident gaze was changed to an enraged glare almost at the same time Satsuki said that line. "That fucking settles it." Ryuko cocked her sword back and jumped to the black-haired woman, who stood tall as a wall, waiting for her to arrive as Ryuko shouted in the air. "YOU'RE THE BITCH THAT HAS THE OTHER HALF AREN'T YOU!"

In the instant she was about to swing her sword and do who knows what to Satsuki's neck and before she was about to be stopped by Shigeo's telekinesis, a massive black glove barreled onto her face, hitting her harshly.

"TEK!"

A hook to her stomach was directed by her aggressor, landing brutally and provoking her to spit blood from her throat.

"KEN!"

It didn't end there, though. The unknown person who yelled these words threw an uppercut to her chin, forcefully shutting her mouth.

"FUN!"

To finish things, the guy spun around in the air before punching her in the face laterally with his gigantic glove again, sending Ryuko down to a crowd of students at ludicrous speed, provoking these students to fall like bowling pins.

"SAI!"

The attacker landed in the ground, and Satsuki's eyes shifted to him before addressing the guy. "Ah, Fukoroda…"

A wicked grin appeared in the face of the now identified as Fukoroda, showing the fact that he lacked one tooth. "Yes, ma'am, Takaharu Fukoroda, president of the Boxing Club. Permit me to finish off this insolent, weak and useless wench by myself!"

"She's all yours."

Speaking these words meant that Satsuki was letting the boxer attack Ryuko, and Shigeo didn't plan on just watching the whole thing happen.

"Aside bastards!"

The growl In Ryuko's voice didn't pass unregistered by Shigeo, and he witnessed how Ryuko swung her sword towards Fukoroda's waist, only for it to be stopped by his massive glove with no effort at all.

"Are these gloves made of steel!?"

A mocking laugh emerged from Fukoroda's throat before he yelled. "This is pathetic! Don't you even know your uniforms?"

That toothy and smug grin he had irked Ryuko to no end, and she grunted at the searing pain she was still feeling in her stomach, the hit from before really hurt, but for some reason, she always had a higher endurance to pain than others, so she could, and  _would_ stand this.

"You're not even wearing a uniform, bastard!"

"For boxers, THIS is a uniform!" Fukoroda declared, pointing to the equipment he had, the helmet with the black reddish stars, his white cape, the shorts, his gloves, and commenced a rant about stuff that Shigeo didn't care about, he was preparing to intercept him in case he attacked Ryuko again, which was the most likely scenario.

"I ain't really following you, but for what I understood, I guess I won't need to pull my own punches!" She affirmed, preparing her sword for another assault. Fukoroda's face twisted into pure outrage at this.

"You believe you can  _hurt_ me!? Don't you dare slight me, insolent idiot!"

Fukoroda threw a jab to the front and just when one of his barrages of punches was about to be launched against Ryuko, an aura whose main color was blue surrounded him before he was stopped in his tracks.

"Be quiet."

If he could turn his head to see who spoke these words, Fukoroda would've did, but alas, he wasn't able to move, not even an inch, it was as if he was caged inside a cell exactly his size. "What the fuck is this…!? I can't move!"

His gaze fixated on Ryuko as he desperately tried to escape the psychic hold, doing animalistic growls unintentionally in the process. 'Is she doing this…!? No…she's as surprised as me, who is then!?'

"I'll let you go, but only if you promise me that you'll leave her alone."

Everyone was witnessing in awe the raised hand of Shigeo pointed towards the president of the boxing club, an aura sparkling around the Esper's body as he intercepted the boxer.

"He's White T-Poison!" One yelled with eyes full of amazement, and others started to sweat profusely. "You can't be serious! What is the shadow leader from the gang of Salt doing here!?"

"We have to bow!"

"Yes!"

"I hope he doesn't harm us!"

"Are you idiot!? He's from a  _gang!_ Of course he'll harm us if we don't give him our money and lunch!"

Shigeo glanced to the nervous and scared herds of students that were referring to him by that nickname, why they called him that way was a total mystery, at least he thought that.

Satsuki smirked. Perhaps this Kageyama was more known than expected, and the fact that he was able to outright stop a Two-Star Goku Uniform user with ESP said much about the strength he could possess.

No wonder why Sanageyama was so pumped, and speaking of him…

The green-haired warrior was watching the events in the top of the academy, where Satsuki previously was, with eyes full of fire, if that was possible. "See that!? He has enough power to stop Fukoroda effortlessly, he's  _worth it!"_

"I've never seen you so excited about an opponent apart from Satsuki, what could this mean?" Inumuta asked while watching from the top, too, only to be replied by the only girl in the Elite-Four.

"It means that the monkey is giving us another fit of stupidity for us to endure."

Gamagori was speechless. He thought that the boy was respectful and rule-following, but the scene that was taking place in the courtyard was saying the contrary.

Back in the courtyard, Ryuko glanced to Shigeo. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Helping a friend."

So that was it. This guy already considered her a friend even though they only passed less than two hours along with each other. "I don't get you, we don't even know anythin' about each other, and yet you're still doing this..."

"He's doing this because he knows that those who win at friendship win at life, Ryuko! Can't you see that? We want to be your friends!"

"Friends…?"

Now that she could recall, she never had any friend in her life, the gangs didn't count, they were united just because they didn't have any better to do, and she never bonded with any of the guys or girls from these gangs.

"Yeeeep! Friends! Despite you're gruff and all, we want to your friends! Besides, your red streak is awesome!"

Even Mako who wasn't the brightest person in the world could see that she wasn't very kind and friendly.

A loud clank echoed across the place, to silence everyone because there were still students rambling about Shigeo and how amazing he was.

"Enough of this foolishness, " She addressed the only Esper in the academy. "Shigeo Kageyama, may I ask you what are your designs for the wielder of the scissor blade?"

"So you know somethin' after all, bitch!" Ryuko yelled, ignored brutally by Satsuki, and another herd of One-Star's pounced over the girl of the red bang, only to be stopped again, this time by Shigeo, who let them suspended in the air.

"She's a friend your students are attacking, I can't let that happen." Shigeo retorted, and Satsuki's big shaped eyebrows raised inquisitively. "A friend? Is that what you consider the pig in clothing down there?"

"Huh!? Come here and say it to my face, bitch!" Ryuko yelled while rolling her sleeve even more, and Shigeo just cocked his head with a frown. "You're being mean for no reason, why?"

"Isn't it appropriate to address the weak, pigs wallowing in their own uselessness, as what they are?"

Mob frowned but kept his cool, as he ever did. "They aren't weak, and they aren't…pigs, they have the same value as you and I, we aren't special, and Ryuko is seeking answers, I think you should answer her properly."

"By 'properly', you are saying that I should answer her demands? If that is the case," Satsuki embedded her sealed sword in the ground imposingly. "You are in for a surprise, Shigeo Kageyama, but I will not answer any of her questions, not unless she proves herself worthy."

The Esper raised an eyebrow and let the words emerge from his mouth. "Worthy? What do you mean?"

Satsuki's gaze shifted towards the violent and impulsive girl that was by some meters away from Shigeo, and Ryuko was looking at her as if she was going to jump over her throat at any moment.

"You, there, if you think you are worthy enough," Satsuki's eyes opened menacingly and she stood even more imposingly if that was possible. "Show yourself tomorrow and clash with the president of the boxing club! If you defeat him in a fair battle, I shall consider responding to your questions!"

The yell echoed across the courtyard, and Ryuko, in response, aimed her sword towards Satsuki. "Bring it! I'll make quick work of you and your goons, just you fucking wait!"

"I thought that would your answer," The woman turned and walked away, returning to the top of the academy by the stairs. "We shall wait for you tomorrow, then."

Satsuki stopped herself in her tracks and half-glanced behind. "And as for you, Shigeo Kageyama," The Esper's attention was drawn again to Satsuki, and he stopped what he was doing before, AKA watch over Mako and place the One-Stars and Fukoroda in another place. "I believe you deserve to be praised for your ability to resolve situations without the need of violence. It is indeed a relief that students as you still exist."

The Esper smiled sheepishly. "Don't say it like that, you're going to make me blush."

Satsuki turned away again, and this time, she didn't stop, she kept walking upward, to the top of Honnoji Academy.

Once she left, and once the Esper left unconscious the One-Stars and Fukoroda with a psychokinetic shockwave, placing them in the top of the walls from the academy, Ryuko hiked to him.

"Mob."

Shigeo's red eyes fixated on the girl, who walked to him until both were at a reasonable distance. "What is it?"

She averted his gaze and tried to let the words flow as best as she could. Shigeo saw many bruises in her face, and one part was slightly swollen even.

"Huh…thanks."

The Esper's eyes widened mildly, showing that he was impressed at what he heard. "Why are you looking me like that?"

"Mako told you to thank me." He affirmed, confident on his declaration. Not letting Ryuko retort, Mako appeared from behind her. "Yup! I knew Ryuko wouldn't ever thank you unless I tell her to do so, Shige! That's why she's thanking you now!"

"I figured it, Mako." He said, and Ryuko was left slightly embarrassed at the truth. "Still, it makes me glad."

"Shige! Ryuko! We have to go to our classroom! Look!" Mako pointed to the whole courtyard and the two teenagers saw that now it had few to no students on it. The bell must've sounded and they conveniently were the only students who didn't hear it.

"You're right."

And so, the three walked, as Mako recalled the events with a spark in her eyes, talking about how Ryuko acted like a boss in front of everyone or how Shigeo stopped a Two-Star Goku Uniform user effortlessly.

* * *

"This is the place, mister Reigen!"

The self-proclaimed psychic of the century strolled onto the place that his newest client was pointing to, and in front of himself, he found a hole in the ground; it was too big, but it wasn't too small either.

"A hole? I don't know what a hole has to do with evil spirits."

"I swear! We have thrown stuff inside and it never came back! It seems that it doesn't even have a bottom! And sometimes, we hear weird things coming from this place, horrific noises that don't let my daughter sleep in the night. I never considered going to the city and asking an exorcist, but I think this isn't normal! Please help!"

The corpulent man was begging him, and, well, Reigen wasn't one to deny such tasks, much less when the payment was high or when the client seemed to be in a real struggle.

Now these two things in unison made this job absolutely undeniable, although he wondered how a man that lived in the woods in a small town close to Seasoning City could have this much money.

"I'll check it, do you have a phone?"

"Y-Yes."

Once the two gave the number of each other, the brawny guy questioned the exorcist. "Wouldn't have it been better if we used a walkie-talkie?"

"Of course, but," Reigen accommodated his tie in a flash and pointed his thumb to himself. "Psychics don't use walkie-talkies! It's a universal rule that every psychic has to follow!"

"Oh, my bad, sorry!"

Now Reigen had to do only one thing. He searched for Serizawa in his list of people's numbers and once he found it, he called. "Serizawa? Yes, it's a job. No, don't tell me you can't come, this is important…No, it's not for the powers, it's because I need a rope to do said job…Dimple isn't with me anymore! Remember you gave him some of your energy, something I can't comprehend why you or Mob didn't do in the past three years?...Exactly!...Serizawa, you're a full grown man in an institution for adult kids, please come, they'll let you. You can? Perfect. Onto-"

The corpulent man couldn't hear the direction Reigen gave the guy called Serizawa, but he knew it was obviously the direction where the hole was.

"See you then."

Reigen hung.

The Esper glanced to the man and asked "Have any doubts of me being a psychic?"

"No!"

"Well, just in case," Reigen pointed his hand to a stone in the ground and, raising two fingers, it floated. "A-Amazing!"

It was amazing indeed, Reigen thought that he would never have them for real, but apparently, and thanks to Dimple, his latent psychic powers awakened.

He wasn't a fraud anymore.


	5. Chapter 5

" _ **Forever"**_

* * *

Reigen had a job to do, and he wasn't one to reject a client, well, not when he was in a good mood, and much less when the client was in a real struggle, let alone when said client paid him a good amount of yen…

"You better not let me fall Serizawa, or your payment will be reduced and you'll have to sleep in the couch!" Reigen yelled inside the hole, going down more and more as Serizawa let the large rope slowly go.

"But boss, I already sleep in the couch…" The Esper said, his voice barely reaching Reigen's ears as he went further into the depths of the hole. "R-Really? I thought you slept in the bathroom!"

"Why is that?" Serizawa yelled in order for Reigen to hear his voice. His boss's voice was fading, too. "Y-You always let the door open and it makes a screeching sound!" Reigen exclaimed, only for Serizawa to grimace in the surface. "I never enter the bathroom in the night!"

"R-Really? Well, that only leaves one thing!"

"What?" Now Serizawa had to place a hand close to his mouth in order for Reigen to hear. "We have an evil spirit in the house, I'll exorcize it when this job is finished!"

"What? Boss, I can no longer hear you! You're too deep down there!"

Reigen's eyes widened and he started to sweat profusely. "W-W-What!? Hey, Serizawa! Can you hear me!? Don't you dare stop talking!"

" _You want me to stop talking?"_ Reigen heard from upward, and he yelled again. "N-No idiot!  _DON'T!"_

" _I'll stop talking then."_

"CRAP!"

Reigen may have awakened his psychic abilities, but for the love of God if there was one! His abilities weren't anywhere near Mob's, or Ritsu, or that blonde guy Mob hanged out with!

He was barely able to lift a table while Serizawa and Dimple could probably lift a whole house.

What did this have to do with the fact that he was going deep in a so-called 'bottomless hole'? Easy, it had to do that a massive and hellish monster or a group of massive and hellish monsters whose appearance could only be ripped straight out from H.P. Lovecraft's fantasies were probably waiting for him at the end of the way, Reigen was accustomed to facing these on daily basis, of course.

_Facing them along with Mob, Dimple, Serizawa or even Tome, but not alone._

The Exorcist felt something beneath her feet and, much to his relief, the bottomless hole, effectively, had a bottom. He sighed exhaustively, his breathing accelerated and he was relaxing from all that ordeal.

Wait.

Shouldn't this place be darker? There was an orangish faint light coming from God knows where, and he was sitting here relaxing! In a flash, Reigen pulled his phone out from the pocket and searched for the Serizawa's number; he was supposed to call the muscular guy who lived in the woods, but now that Serizawa was here, things became easier.

"S-Serizawa."

" _What is it, boss?"_

Reigen coughed a bit and wiped away the drops of sweat coming down in his forehead, messing up with his already messy bangs in the process. "I'm in the bottom."

" _I know."_

"You shouldn't be that calm at that you know…"

" _Boss, we have to complete this job, the night will arrive at any moment."_

Reigen huffed before frowning, making one of these faces he couldn't avoid making. "Liar, it's only one o'clock of the afternoon."

Serizawa remained silent, which was a thing that only increased the already high anxiety of Reigen even more, at this rate, he was going to grow white hair. Being in a cave with an orangish light wasn't pretty, in the slightest.

"There's an orangish light, I'll go check on it…tell me a joke."

" _A joke?"_

"Yes, any joke you know."

The man of the umbrella got silent again, but Reigen didn't stop walking cautiously and trembling, he came to a point where the light was directing him towards a hall of rocks, and he could see a shining small ball in the distance. He kept walking nonetheless.

Until he had the ball in front and Dimple manifested in his fart cloud form. "Hey,"

"HOLY CRAP!"

Reigen fell to the ground and remained on it with his hands in his head, thinking of a way to escape the place until his mind processed the voice.

Dimple.

"How dare you appear all of sudden, I could've died of a heart attack!"

"Geez! I was just gonna check on you all, I felt your energy spiking too fast and I came to see you, and what do I, the greatest spectrum Dimple get? You screaming and spitting on my face!"

Reigen, who calmed down at having a subordinate here accompanying him moved his hand in a nonchalant manner. "Yeah, yeah, look."

The brown-haired man pointed to the small ball in front of them, which was black, but it had orangish lines and light sparkling on it. The spectrum flew around, examining the ball and he came to one conclusion.

"I feel repulsive energy coming from this. Whatever this balloon is, we have to eradicate it and now!"

Reigen remained silent at his declaration, which irked the spectrum. "Do you hear what I'm sayin'!?"

The exorcist moved his hand in a careless manner, again, attempting to calm down the spirit. "I heard you. Use your writer beam on it and we'll be done with this."

"It's  _WRAITHER BEAM!"_

And with that, the spectrum entered his 'god form', and he opened his mouth, charging his attack in a very short time before destroying the ball, leaving nothing apart from ashes. The cave started to collapse due to the attack being too strong and reaching a great length, and Reigen ran to the rope that Serizawa was still holding on the surface while screaming loudly. Speaking of Serizawa, he forgot about him and the fact that he was still in the line.

Well, whatever, his life was first!

Little did Reigen knew, that a little spark was still shining in the collapsing cave.

* * *

"Ryuko! Ryuko! You must prepare for your fight tomorrow!" The brown-haired girl looked to the only Esper that was accompanying her and Ryuko, said Esper was sitting in the ground, watching the sky. "Shige! We have to buy a fighting outfit for Ryuko, she's gonna fight tomorrow and we don't want to see her do so without a fighting armor!"

It was the turn of the Esper to look at her. "What do you suggest Mako?"

Mako jumped in front of him and placed her face inches from his, all in an instant. "I say we buy her a samurai armor! She would look like a badass!" Mako's shining amber eyes searched for Ryuko, and once they found her, she looked to Shigeo again. "She already looks like a badass, but she would be more badass if she had a samurai armor!"

If Mob was honest, Mako's act was always amusing, not enough to make him laugh, but enough to make him feel happier. He got to know the people in the slums and he had to say, they were  _fierce,_ pretty much like Ryuko. Nothing like what was in the districts from above could compare, and he had to say that he enjoyed the landscape of the slums, it didn't feel that void compared to the district where Gamagori assigned him his room.

Now, if only more than half of the people here didn't live poorly…

"That…That would be ridiculous, Mako."

Shigeo smiled at remembering that his other friend was here, too. Mako made a squeal of surprise before hopping in front of Ryuko. "But Ryuko! You're gonna fight tomorrow and you need to have armor to protect you from Fukoroda's gloves!"

"I'd rather fight in my normal clothes than wearing samurai shit, besides, I don't want to bother ya and your family into buying a shitty armor for me."

Ryuko could be pretty self-centered sometimes, but she wasn't being like that now, not with Mako's family in the equation. "Ryuko, you picked what is important?"

The sapphire colored eyes shifted to the Esper sitting in the ground of the comfortable spot they found almost at the end of slums, which was close to the highway that let people enter Honno City. "What's important? I don't get it."

"If you lose against Satsuki, she'll be able to take your blade, and she isn't gonna answer you, " Mob's dark red eyes met hers. "You should pick what is important before the fight, because if you lose, all your traveling would be for nothing, no?"

Ryuko's raised eyebrow meant that she didn't understand much, so the Esper just clicked his tongue. "Nevermind, I hope you get your answers, Ryuko."

Now  _that_ was something she could understand. "Be sure I'll win no matter what! That Kiryuin will answer me and there's nothing that'll stop that from happening!" Her defiant gaze remained like that until Shigeo let out words that put her thinking. "But, shouldn't you try to know more about the guy who hit you? I mean, if you're going to fight him, you should know how he does stuff and all that, at least I think so."

That…that was a problem, to say the least. "Don't worry Ryuko! I know how the boxing club president battles and I'll explain it to you!"

Well, it didn't seem like a problem anymore. "Go on," Ryuko said, and with that, Mako began with her explanation about Fukoroda's abilities.

"He always uses this barrage of punches on competitions with other schools! Then there's a drill move he uses with his big glove and it's sooooo weird! Got it Ryuko?"

"Pretty much."

It was almost impossible to not get it when Mako was doing the poses that Fukoroda supposedly did when doing these moves. "When my dad watched him fight, he said that he has no boxing technique whatsoever! He fights like an amateur! So you won't have a problem with his technique, Ryuko! Don't forget about the uppercut he does with the big glove, it's dangerous and you could be in a big pinch if it reaches you!"

Ryuko knew that well because she witnessed first hand how it felt to be punched by that uppercut, she almost bit her tongue back there.

Mako's dad words weren't the most assuring thing in the world for Ryuko, much less knowing the fact that he has killed more patients than saved in his job as a back-alley doctor. However, she couldn't say she was the best fighter out there, though. "Heh…" She glanced to Shigeo with a crooked smile, sign that meant how unsure she was at hearing Mako. "Mob, know how boxers fight?"

Shigeo was reminded of  _someone_ at hearing Ryuko's question. That mohawk man who hurt and kidnapped his brother years ago was still somewhat fresh in his mind, and these red balls he had in hands were like gloves. He gave the guy a taste of his own medicine, and it was that man's fault.

"I once found a man who used gloves and we fought."

That actually caught Ryuko's attention. Mob's wild hair suggested that he was a very fierce person, but as she got to know him in the past hours, he didn't seem like the guy who would pick a fight with someone. "Really? Tell me about it."

"He punched me real bad."

All Ryuko's interest vanished almost instantly at hearing that. "Uh, why'd you two fought?"

The Esper looked to the sky again. "Would you believe me if I tell you he attempted to kidnap my little brother?"

Mako gasped in disbelief while Ryuko limited to let her eyes widen mildly. "No way!" Mako ran over the sitting figure of Mob and asked with what he could only perceive as concern. "How's your brother? Is he okay? That must've been a horrible experience! I wish none of that happens to me or my family!"

Shigeo let a smile cross his face. "He's okay, Mako, you don't need to worry."

The girl sighed in an exaggerated way and looked to Ryuko. "What about you Ryuko? Some person tried to kidnap you?"

Ryuko raced a hand over her red highlight and recalled one time in Tokyo, the city where she born, when a group of pricks assaulted and tried to kidnap her to do who knows what, but she was already in high school and was strong enough to beat them all senseless. "Yeah, once, but I made quick work of these idiots," Ryuko looked again to Mob, who, again, was watching the sky. She couldn't see what he liked about it, it was a boring activity to do. "By the way, why that guy wanted to kidnap your brother, Mob?" She asked.

"It was because he had psychic powers like me."

The answer really took Ryuko off guard. "Wait, so there are more Espers out there?"

"Plenty of them."

"And your brother was being kidnapped by a normal guy or…?"

"They were Espers, too."

She was speechless. Mob didn't call 'He', but he called them 'They', which only could mean that there were many Espers over the world and that his brother was being abducted by a group of them. If that was so, she couldn't know why she didn't found any Esper in her whole life until now.

"That's unbelievable stuff you're telling me," Both girls walked over the only boy with them and Ryuko sat alongside him, Mako doing the same, but by her side. "But I guess it's normal, I mean, if you exist, there should be more like you, right?"

"You're right."

"There are other Espers! That's really really amazing! Wish I could be an Esper too!"

Shigeo knew that Mako  _could_ be an Esper if Dimple possessed her, just as he did with Ritsu, that way she would awaken her latent abilities. But Shigeo felt better having Mako as Mako, nothing more, nothing less, she was unique on her own and didn't need psychic powers.

They weren't necessary.

"So, how'd you two fought? I say you two stood dumbly while moving hands randomly." Ryuko teased, but to her surprise, Shigeo didn't fell on it, and instead answered her question as if her mischievous smirk wasn't there. "No, he used a telekinetic fenix…no, that wasn't the name. Well, the case is that he used two red balls in his hands that worked as drills against my barrier, and he attacked like a boxer, but using his legs too."

Now curiosity was coming back to the guitar case carrier. "And what about you?"

"I'm not the best fighter, so I relied on pure strength."

"You mean…?"

The Esper tried to remember the most he could of that fight, which wasn't scarce, as it was one of the most brutal events in his short life. "I floated to him fast using telekinesis and slammed him to the floor."

"What? You used teleki-what and slammed him? I thought that these powers only worked to bend spoons and move stuff with the mind." Ryuko said, earning a quiet glance from Mob. "Telekinesis can help you to do a lot more than that, Ryuko."

"Shige! Keep telling us your story with the boxer psychic, it's so cool!"

Mako's plea reached the Esper's ears, and well, who he was to deny her? "Alright, Mako, I'll do."

And so, Shigeo told how his fight transpired.

* * *

Sho's hobby was to practice wrestling holds, but he had no one to do so right now, so the teenager was content watching over Shigeo and these girls, Ryuko and Mako. If he was honest, he felt very identified with the one named Ryuko.

Identified in the way that both spoke the way they spoke and in the way both were energic and sassy. Yes, because Sho was pretty sassy, but the difference lied in that Ryuko was sassy with EVERYONE and didn't seem to know when to NOT be like that, he did, of course.

And Ryuko used insults and yelled a bit more than him, which was an unexpected thing coming from a girl.

The Sea's sound was so calming, to the point where he feared deactivating the refractor of light that rendered him invisible out of pure relaxation.

From where he was, he could hear the voice of Mako, and he had to say, that girl was an unexpected one. Hyperactive, cheerful, imaginative, easily surprised, and had he already recalled how hyperactive she was?

He wouldn't mind getting along with these two, and well, he was about to 'give it a shot', he had nothing to do after all. Joseph would probably put him in the list as that Aikuro guy conveniently did with Ryuko. The bald bastard, well, he didn't know if classify Joseph as a bald  _yet,_ was conveniently the tutor of, HALLELUJAH, a first-grade class! Sneaking in this academy would be child's play!

And then the assault would commence once the Kiryuins, and by Kiryuins he meant Satsuki and her mother, made their first move.

But that was for later,  _much_ later, for now, he would conform with socializing and, who knows? Maybe Shigeo would enjoy learning some new tricks from him, the brother of Ritsu would  _probably_ need them in the future.

Sho hopped from the roof of a bad-looking house and walked away from it, directing towards the group of three, his somewhat wild ginger-hair being moved by the wind, which was a strange thing, as it wasn't more then two o'clock or so, and he was in the lowest zone of the city, not in the top, where the wind commonly howled wildly, on the nights overall.

He came to a halt being halfway from the group.

Shigeo was telling a story, and once he ended…

"Nice one, I believe you beaten the shit out of Koyama."

While Ryuko and Mako turned to see who was the one who spoke these words, Shigeo recognized it, and how another way could it be? They passed three years developing a friendship, it may not be a close friendship, but it was.

"Who the hell are you?" The girl named Ryuko demanded as she stood up, prepared for anything. For some reason, Ryuko felt unnerved by this guy's presence, it was very strange that neither she, Mako or Mob heard his footsteps when he approached them.

"Me? Wonder who could I be."

To Sho's shock, the brown-haired girl appeared in front of him and looked in awe at his three-pronged eyebrows. "Whoooa! You've got very cool eyebrows! How do you make them look like that? I'll say it again, they're so cool!"

He did some steps backward due to Mako's face being inches from his as she checked his rare eyebrows. "Eh…they're natural."

"Aww! That means I can't have them…?"

Ryuko was still looking at him with a scowl, still feeling uncomfortable at his presence.

The face Mako did, with her eyes inexplicably becoming bigger and tears accumulating in her eyes, threatening to flow at any moment, Sho couldn't stop himself from feeling a slight tenderness in his chest, feeling a need to do whatever he could to not trigger her tears.

"Of course you can! You just go to a barber and it's done!"

Mako's eyes shined to the point where her pupils looked like big stars, Sho required to cover his eyes and she immediately started running around in happiness.

Mob turned to face the already known owner of that voice. "Suzuki, how'd your exploration went?"

The ginger-haired Esper yawned before closing his eyes in boredom. "Nothing special, apart of you savin' this girl with well-developed manners from a good beatdown."

Ryuko heard the snide remark, and her go-onto-action personality pulled the best out of her. "Well then, I'll break that nose of yours with a 'special' punch, what do ya say?"

"Bring it!"

"You ain't need to say it!"

The girl of the red streak launched a fist with all her forces towards the Esper, and when she thought it hit, to all her astonishment, it didn't reach the Esper. In the other hand, Sho was mildly amused, this girl wasn't one to hesitate when attacking, and she didn't seem afraid of doing so either. But there was a thing that caught his attention, and that was the fact that his barrier trembled,  _a bit,_ but a tremble was a tremble.

"I give it to you! You have spunk, but you'll stop now."

Ryuko grounded her teeth in a menacing expression. "And why the hell would I stop? Just because of a smartass from the streets that thinks he's the big deal? Don't make me laugh!"

She tossed another punch to his eye this time, only for it to  _not_ land again. "It's not because of that, it's because, well, it's not like you're stupid, right?" Sho inquired sarcastically, cocking his head to the side, such action only irked Ryuko more than what she already was. "Asshole…!"

"Wait, Ryuko, Sho, I think you two should calm down."

And much to her anger, Mob seemed to be by this bastard's side!

"Tell that to your big friend, not to me idiot! He started!" She exclaimed, only for Mob to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "Ryuko, I saw you hitting Suzuki, and he's not doing anything about it."

"He started by playing the smartass! Didn't you hear when he-"

"You could've perfectly ignored him, Ryuko, you have more important things to attend to, such as preparing for your fight for tomorrow."

Those words seemed to turn a switch on Ryuko, whose eyes widened in shock at hearing that, and at remembering that the fight tomorrow would decide everything.

Sho glanced slyly at her. "That's right. We don't want you to lose your chance of getting your answers, no?"

Mako was watching the whole scene happen while doing gasps of surprise and glancing between all of her friends, yes, because she was already considering Sho her friend…as odd as that was.

If Ryuko had to endure this idiot to get her answers, so be it. "God damn it, fine, I'll leave him alone, but just 'cuz you're right! And as for you!" Ryuko walked to Sho hot in her heels, who deactivated his barrier, assuming erroneously that Ryuko wouldn't approximate to him anymore, which ended up in her grabbing him by the shirt beneath his dark green jacket. "Once I get my answers, that I will, I'll beat you to a damn pulp! Got it!?"

"I'm impatient to see it, but ONLY if you get your answers," The Esper gave her the hand, and Ryuko observed it as if it was the ugliest thing she ever saw in her life. "Deal?"

The girl watched it for a moment before taking Sho's hand. "Deal."

"So, you two came to an accord? Mako's been worriedly watching over both of you." Shigeo affirmed, Mako appearing in front of him and facing the teenagers who previously were discussing. "That's right! I thought that you two would fight dummies! You aren't gonna fight, right? Right? Right?"

Sho was the one to answer the girl continuous questions. "Eh, right."

Shigeo sighed in relief. Perhaps his friends weren't going to do a fuss, and that was all that he could ask for. "Hey, Mob," The black-haired Esper's gaze shifted towards the person who called him. "Yes?"

Ryuko pointed her thumb to the only other boy in the place. "Is he an Esper? I mean, you said you Espers could trigger capes or some stuff like that, and when I tried to punch him my hand didn't hit, was that a barrier?"

It actually impressed both Shigeo and Sho that someone like Ryuko paid attention to details like these. "Yes, he's an Esper like me."

"Knew it."

Mob was slightly impressed at how easy she took the fact that Espers existed, well, his friends who knew about his powers didn't care that much after the first glimpse, but still, it was impressing.

Then Mob's phone sounded.

Everyone, including Mako, who stopped running around happy looked at him. He pulled the phone out from his pants pockets, only to see the all-too-familiar name of his mentor in the little screen, Arataka Reigen, before placing the phone close to his ear.

"Hi, master."

From the other side of the line, Reigen was wiping the dirt away from his business outfit, having finished his first job in the day. "Howdy, Mob! How's your day going?"

"Good, I've met two new persons that I'm fond of."

" _That's fine, Mob, but, have you did your patrolling yet…?"_

The firstborn son from the Kageyama family sighed. "No, master, I believe that-"

" _O-Of course, you don't need to do it every time Mob, I was just saying,"_ Reigen backpedaled. He couldn't afford to get in a conflict with his disciple,  _again,_ and it would be plain wrong if he obliged him to do the tasks EVERY day in that city, that…that would be infantile exploitation, even though Mob was now in high school and that he was as tall as himself, he wasn't an adult yet. When he was classified as such, then maybe, a big MAYBE, he would put him to do the tasks every day.

No, that was out of the question, Mob would most probably leave the job at that age, get a decent job, be someone in life, get a family and all that stuff adults had, besides, the brat gained his affect, and he wouldn't have the heart to go and force him to the job.

Still, the thought of Mob leaving made Reigen sad.

" _But, even though you aren't obliged to do the job, MAYBE, someone out there needs you,"_

If there was someone that needed Mob, it was him. Watching him grow more and more as a person became, without knowing, the activity Reigen liked the most, and if that wasn't enough, Mob always said that he became what he was now thanks to  _him_ , and his own friends, of course.

Mob was the person that made Reigen feel proud. He could go as far as to affirm that Mob was like the son he never had, and who could blame him? He probably was a better paternal figure for Mob than his own parents.

" _Have a nice day, Mob, I know you have a life apart from the job, so see you later."_

"I hope that you have a nice day too, master."

With that, Reigen hung, he didn't want to interfere in Mob's life more than he already did, he was afraid of committing the same error he committed in the past.

On the other hand, Mob felt…dissapointment? He expected his master's call to last more, but he remembered that, in fact, these calls never did last, Reigen sure wasn't accustomed to communicating through a phone.

Then he met the glances of his friends.

Ryuko was the first to talk. "What was that…?"

"You have a master, Mob! Is he a psychic like you?"

Mako didn't ignore the brief conversation Shigeo had with his mentor, perhaps.

"Reigen? Don't tell me he told ya to do HIS work here?" Sho questioned with a mild disdain in his tone. He and Reigen weren't on the best terms, specifically because Sho thought of him as a bastard that lied to his clients, as charming as Reigen could be. He had to give it to the bastard his friend worked for, he pulled some good chuckles and laughs out of him.

"No, I accepted doing that work, he didn't force me."

"Work? You have a work Shige? That's incredible!"

Shigeo scratched the back of his head modestly. "Well, it really isn't a job, it's a middle time work, I'm supposed to do it here whenever I can, and whenever I want."

Mako's praises had a big value for him, even though many other people would've run from her at the first sight of her random personality arising.

"Well, that's good, does it means that you've got some free time?" Sho asked with his hands interlaced behind his head, a smirk in his face that Mob could only interpret as friendly.

"Yes, I have."

"Hell yeah! Wanna learn so-"

"Who's Reigen?" Ryuko asked, simultaneously interrupting Sho in the process. Of course, the girl didn't lose her chance to catch a glimpse of the annoyed face the carrot-head idiot was making. It felt very good to return him the favor, and when she got to punch him tomorrow,  _oh,_ it would be better.

"Reigen's my master."

"Huh?"

At Ryuko's narrowed gaze of confusion, Shigeo felt the need to further explain what he said. "He's my boss on my middle-time job."

"Oh, got it."

Ryuko wouldn't pressure him with another question, she was done with that, and would rather spend time…preparing for her encounter tomorrow, whatever "Preparing" implied.

"So, Shigeo, want to help me? For the fighting stuff, I mean."

The boy's face twisted into a very surprised one before he denied with the head. "Sorry, Ryuko, I'm not interested. I won't hit you."

"Huh, I didn't say that, I was meaning you using that barrier of yours for me to polish my blows, like a warm-up."

Mako stood in front of Ryuko eagerly. "Okie-dokey! You can use me as punching bag Ryuko! Just promise me you'll win tomorrow!"

The scissor blade wielder stared in stupefaction at Mako before nervously looking to the side, feeling unnerved at Mako's decision to be hit by her. Seriously, what was the deal of this city and his inhabitants? "I…eh…No, thanks Mako."

The Esper couldn't be more surprised now. "That is a nice idea, Ryuko, I'm fine with it."

"So am I." Ryuko pulled her scissor blade spinning it around her wrists, just as she did back in Honnoji, before approaching to Shigeo, who activated a barrier in the exact second Ryuko's blade was about to touch him.

"That barrier is tough as hell…!"

Mako's mouth opened wide at the sight of the barrier that appeared in front of Shigeo, unable to not squeal. "No way! That's a real barrier!"

Ryuko took some steps backs due to the speed at which her sword landed at the barrier that Mob triggered. Sho frowned at the image before him; a big blue wall-like barrier was blinking like a light in the night, it reminded him of that crimson barrier his good-for-nothing triggered against him that fateful day when he thought that three months of storing energy would be enough to stop his father's onslaught.

Could it be…? Shigeo's powers matured enough to perform such a hard trick like  _that?_  The barrier he remembered from Shigeo was very round compared to  _this._

The ginger-haired Esper clenched his hands. Damn it! Shigeo's powers obviously weren't in their peak three years ago and yet he could stand a match against his father and his energy stored up for twenty years…just how powerful did he was right now!?

"Ryuko! Are you okay?" Mob asked in concern; maybe he exceeded with what he did. "I'm just fine, I want to see if I can shatter your damn barrier!"

"Go Ryuko! Go!" Mako cheered, stars appearing by an unknown reason in her eyes.

The black-haired girl glanced to her blade and when she made sure it was alright, she lunged towards Shigeo again, slashing continuously and at a speed that Mob was impressed of. One glimpse at her attacks made it evident that she was fast, more than other people.

But his barrier was still standing imposingly against her, she wasn't giving up, of course, stubborn as always. "God damn it!"

Just looking at it, and looking at the smile in Shigeo's face, it irked her to no end. "What's so funny?" She asked with a growl in her voice and between breaths, before commencing with another assault.

The small smile in Shigeo's face widened when he heard her question. "Nothing, It just makes me glad that you're so optimistic about your fight tomorrow."

"Oh shut up…just do the barrier."

"Right."

And so, Ryuko kept with her 'training' session for almost twenty minutes, which was jaw-dropping stamina for a girl, until she couldn't do more and sat in the ground tiredly as her gaze fell to the ground, leaving her bangs cover her face while doing exhausted breaths. It sure was a challenge to break that barrier, damn it.

"Bastard…"

She glanced at the barrier and it still looked  _untouched,_ which provoked her to ground her teeth, softly, but she still grounded it.

"Don't feel bad, his shield has always been hard to crush, very few people could do that, like my father."

Ryuko glared at Sho in disbelief. "Someone broke  _that!?_ "

"My father, but that's a long story you sure don't want to hear, now…" Sho walked towards Shigeo, whose shield was still activated, expecting another assault from Ryuko. "Mind if I try somethin', bro?"

Mob considered it before moving his head to both sides in negation. "No, I don't mind."

The only son from the Suzuki family smirked, full of himself. "Now, watch carefully, Ryuko, " He raised a hand surrounded in an orangish aura. "If you can decipher the components beneath psychic attacks or techniques, you can always nullify them, like THIS!"

Sho's hand clenched in a fist before he threw a punch to his fellow Esper, and to Mako and Ryuko's shock, it  _bypassed_ the barrier, and it didn't seem that it would stop there.

Inches from the nose of Mob, the hand of Sho came to a halt, almost doing contact with his friend. "Hey! Bro, you were supposed to dodge  _this!_ Why ain't you moving?"

"I was supposed to? I thought you would just do a demonstration."

"Ya know what? Forget it."

Sho glanced to Ryuko. "See it?"

Ryuko remained flabbergasted before her expression changed to one that could only mean  _"I'm pissed"._

"No fair! You're a goddamn psychic! How am I supposed to do what you did!?" She questioned with a scowl, evidencing her anger. The Esper just interlaced his hands behind his head nonchalantly, humming before admitting "You have a point."

"Is that all you'll say…!?"

"Suzuki! You're the greatest psychic I've ever met after Shige! Ryuko struggled so much to get through Shige's barrier and yet she couldn't reach him! You only walked forward like a boss and got through it!"

"Of course! I'm great, ain't I?"

Whereas Mako and Sho began with their thrilling words exchange, Mako praising his qualities while Sho accepted the praises and praised himself a bit more, Ryuko hiked to Shigeo and both glanced to each other before looking to the other two teenagers energetically talking.

"Mako has only met two Espers, you and that douche, right?"

Shigeo let a lighthearted laugh out at the question. "I believe so."

"Uh, then I understand why that idiot is one of the best psychics she ever met…he has no competence at all, " Ryuko's blue eyes fixated in Shigeo's joyful face. "Apart from you, I mean."

The Esper's gaze met hers. Now that Ryuko could see them better, his eyes were a deep shade of red. "Don't be that harsh with Suzuki, Ryuko, he can be a bit rough, but he's really nice once you get to kn-"

His words died in his lips as he witnessed something stunning, and Ryuko frowned, wondering why he was looking at her like that, eventually voicing her thoughts. "Hey, what are you staring at?"

"Your eyes."

Ryuko let out a " _Huh?"_ before Shigeo explained what was the object of his amazement. "Your eyes are like gears."

The girl blinked before scowling again. "So? If you don't like it, you can shove-"

She got silenced by what he said when his smile returned to his face as he looked upon Mako and Sho again. "That's fine, because I can distinguish you from other people by just looking to your eyes and searching for your red bang."

Shigeo didn't know what happened after he spoke these words, because Ryuko went quiet for a moment, and just when he was about to ask what was bothering her, she talked.

"…Hey, can you be my punching bag for a while again?"

* * *

"We've been in this place for the whole day…"

That, effectively, was the truth, and Sho didn't need to say it for everyone to know, especially when it was late afternoon. He had gotten along pretty well with Mako and with…well, Ryuko and he became more like frenemies, but it still counted as getting along, no?

And everything happened in a corner of the slums in which you could see the sea, close the port.

Speaking of Ryuko, she was laying in the ground, sweating and tired of training for all the day. Mob felt slightly bad for not being able to aid her in another thing rather than polishing her attacks, but he just wasn't sure if attacking her would be a good idea, he didn't have …technique? Yes, Sho said that he lacked the technique, both in physical and psychic combat, although, his immeasurable force in the latter made up for it, without it, he would be almost defenseless.

He didn't want to be defenseless, sure, he didn't enjoy fighting, but being defenseless was a huge flaw, and what Shigeo yearned the most was improving himself as a person.

That of course, meant physical improvement, not for nothing he joined the Body Improvement Club years ago, and although he was in good shape, he lacked almost everything a fighter needed.

Even Teruki knew that without experience in fights, it would be hard to protect his loved ones if a threat like Claw emerged again, which was highly unlikely, but could still happen, what if someone stronger than him shows up in the future? What would he do? He couldn't rely on his friends, even though they said that they couldn't compare to him.

He was seriously considering asking Sho for a bit of training, Sho already showed how talented he was at fighting both with and without psychic powers, he was a genius, at least in the psychic manner.

But all that was for later.

"Ryuko? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

She was exhausted, and yet, he could still see the decision in her eyes, she was really believing she would win tomorrow, but Shigeo had his doubts, such as, how would she face that Fukoroda and his big glove?

"I can give you some energy if you want."

"You can do that…?"

Everyone had their own psychic power, excluding telekinesis, which was the most common, every Esper had their own style they born for, regardless of the fact that they could learn new abilities.

Many had pyrokinesis, others aerokinesis, plenty shared electrokinesis, cryokinesis, chlorokinesis, technokinesis, and another massive amount of abilities that he wouldn't bother to remember.

According to Sho, the power to absorb and grant others energy was his special ability, such as Toichiro, the dad of Sho.

"Yes, I can."

Ryuko was about to deny it, but, too late, Shigeo's aura was already surrounding her, and she started to feel…renewed, and not only that, but she was feeling…happiness? Why did she felt so joyful all of sudden?

"What…what the hell is this…?"

"You see, I can give others my energy, but it also sends my emotions to them, so you're feeling what I'm feeling now."

The black-haired girl felt as if she could lift the entire world now, and she was smiling without knowing. Since when did she felt genuinely happy? It must have been years ago.

Once Shigeo finished giving her enough energy, she stood again. "Heh…not gonna lie, that felt amazing, Mob, " She tried to not avert her gaze as she did in the morning, and this time, she was going to act genuinely gratefully, Mob deserved at least that after how cooperative and selfless he was during the day, helping her while he could go and do whatever his middle-time job indicated he should do. Maybe she was a Japanese delinquent, but she still knew when to thank someone.

"Thanks."

Mob briefly looked stunned at her gesture before smiling, and Sho didn't lose his chance to intervene. "See? Was it  _that_ hard to say?"

"Oh Sho! You ruined the moment! Dummie!" Mako hopped over Sho to try and do the wrestling holds she used in Mataro, but surprise, Sho was very experienced in these, it was his hobby to practice them after all, so the situation reverted and he escaped from her hold in his throat.

"Now now, no need to be so mean, Mako," Sho said with a playful smirk on his lips.

She puffed her cheeks before looking to Shigeo and pointing an accusative finger to Sho, who was standing nonchalantly with his hands on pockets before her. "Shige! Sho's acting like a villain!"

Even when angry, Mako couldn't help but look so innocent.

"You would do a nice job as a punching bag, Mob." Ryuko let out as she playfully elbowed Shigeo. "You think? I'm okay with the job I have for now."

"Whatever that is, " She placed her hands in her pockets with a skeptical face before walking to Mako. "Hey, Mako, what'd you say about me sleepin' in your house? Were you serious about that?"

"Yes! Ryuko, you're all welcome to sleep at my house, there's no problem if you drool on the pillows or accidentally fart in the night!"

"Fart…" Ryuko shook her head before glaring at Mako. "I don't do that!"

"That's fine too!" Mako immediately looked to the black-haired Esper that was glancing to the sky,  _again._ "Shige! You can come and have dinner at my house! You'll enjoy my mom's mystery croquettes!"

If the red-eyed Esper was honest, the offer sounded a bit appealing, but he didn't want to bother Mako's family, much less when he had his own food waiting for him inside his fridge. "Thanks, Mako, but I don't want to make your mother prepare more food for me,

Just when Mako seemed about to say something, Shigeo talked, because he didn't finish his sentence. "Maybe someday."

She grinned joyfully before looking at Shigeo decisively. "Promise it, Shige! Promise that you'll eat dinner with us someday! Please!"

The teenager replied with "I promise."

"Thanks a ton!" She turned, still facing him though. "Goodbye Shige! Goodbye Sho! Let's go home Ryuko!"

"Goodbye." Shigeo said.

Mako started to walk, believing that Ryuko was following her, but, surprise, she wasn't. "Heh, see you tomorrow, Mob, and you too, bastard, we have a deal."

"See ya and Mako later."

"Goodbye, Ryuko."

With that, both girls left, Ryuko caught up with Mako eventually.

"We should go to our apartment, but I have stuff to do, you can go alone if you want, bro."

Shigeo found Sho's phrase…odd. "Our apartment? But, you snuck in-"

"See ya later too, Ritsu's brother!"

Sho moved his two fingers in a farewell manner, showing his teeth in a toothy grin with his eyes closed before becoming invisible.

Shigeo glanced to his right hand, wondering if he could do the same.

Whereas he calmly walked to his apartment in the One-Star district, with no hurry at all although the night was nigh, Sho pulled his iPhone in an alley.

"Hey, old fart…your predictions weren't very accurate as to what really happened…no, she stayed here all the day! You said Matoi would  _obviously_ return to her family's house and yet she stayed here…what? That it was my friend's fault? Cut the crap! They would've beaten the shit outta her if it wasn't for him!...Now what?...Hell, that is gonna be a long trip all the way to her house…me? Alright, I'll go, it's not like I have anything to do, besides, I'm pretty curious to find out what this  _Kamui_ thing is…very well, I'm off, until tomorrow, dirty fart."

Sho snapped his phone shut. "What should I use? Electricity or my stored energy…?"

Of course, Sho knew he didn't have an option better than enhancing his speed with the power of lightning, it was the best, and it would be a long way from here to Isshin Matoi's home.

"What I'm sayin'? Of course the lightning is better on this!"

His left foot sparkled in the darkness of the alley before he went at full speed out of the zone, and in a few seconds, he was out of the slums and running in the highway that led to Honno City.

His arrival at Isshin's home was just a matter of time, he would probably do so in just ten minutes, maybe less.

* * *

_Have anyone heard about "To My Death I Fight"? It's a great fanfic, I personally enjoyed it, even though I'm not fan of Bleach, it was one of these few good and complete crossovers of Kill la Kill, I'm not saying that my story is great, but there are many out there with potential that are incomplete, like "Fibers of the Universe"._

_Hope you liked this chapter and see you in the next one!_


	6. Chapter 6

" _ **This Time It's Different"**_

* * *

Sho's arrival to the house of the father of Ryuko was, indeed, fast; he didn't take more than ten minutes, which said much about his speed, electrokinesis was useful after all, these days trying to master it along with his good-for-nothing father were worth it.

Now, he was standing in front of what, once upon a time, was a beautiful and rich home, if he didn't know better, he would've thought that it was the house of a rich man.

Well…Isshin had to be rich if he had the money to invest in Nudist Beach weapons, that, or he didn't know how these were produced.

But he had another thing to focus on now.

Taking steps with hands inside his pocket, his blue eyes scanned the zone. It was pretty hard to see in this darkness, there weren't lamp posts close to this place, and Sho wasn't a nocturnal being, so he had to rely on the pyrokinesis he didn't master yet, but that he knew how to use.

Triggering a flame of the size of his whole hand, Sho, once again, watched the zone in complete quietness. There wasn't anything that was especially attention-grabbing, apart from the fact that the house was reduced to ruins, of course, and apart from the fact that, a few meters away, he could see two small doors on the ground, they were covered in dust.

Bingo.

In the instant he was about to take the first step towards the doors of steel, he saw a portrait from the corner of the eye, and couldn't help but glance to the side; before him, a photo placed on one of the few parts that weren't destroyed in this house was covered in dust, just like the doors he had recently found.

"This is attention-grabbin' too."

Sho hiked towards the photo and, taking it in one hand and lighting it with the other, he could see that a child version of Ryuko was sheepishly looking to the camera, and Isshin was there, too, but with a grin, and the background was nice.

A beautiful picture for such a messed up family.

Isshin did a lousy work in raising Ryuko…could he say that he even raised her? It didn't seem to be the case, but he wasn't able to tell if they loved each other or not. Apparently, Ryuko did, not for nothing, she was searching for the one who killed him.

If Sho was honest, he didn't have a clue about that either.

"I'll store this…it may be useful."

Sho's intuition never failed, not even that time when he was going to confront his father in that tower and, deep inside, something was telling him " _Don't, you can't",_ but he was reckless, too reckless to hear that warning, hence why he took a good beat from his old man who stored energy for freaking twenty years.

But that was in the past, he had to focus on the present.

After taking the broken portrait in his hands, he walked towards the doors of steel and, standing above them, he gave it a psychically enhanced stomp on the doors, intending to open them with sheer force, and to his amazement, they actually  _took_ the powerful attack and only got a harsh dent on them, the zone surrounding him broke on some parts, which made him feel like an asshole for destroying Ryuko and Isshin's house more than it already was.

This was more important, however.

With another stomp, the doors finally gave in and he fell, retaining a skeptical face though, Sho expected it to be this way, and it was.

He lit up the flame which disappeared when he fell on the room and, glancing around, he witnessed the vast amount of clothes hidden within the secret room, right now, he was standing on a little mountain of clothes, of the many that were in the room, and it would be a pain in the ass searching for the big deal, the Kamui.

That fact wouldn't faze him, though.

"Where to start…"

* * *

After a whole hour of search that seemed to be neverending, Sho caught a glimpse of a navy blue colored uniform beneath all of the clothes and, with telekinesis, he accommodated all of them far before taking the uniform between his hands, grasping it until he grew bored of it, which didn't take more than ten seconds and turned it to see the front side.

It was indeed a sailor uniform; navy blue was his main color, with some lines of red color, and it had a…patch? Yes, it looked like it, and it also had a part resembling an eye, which gave Sho the creeps, he felt like it would open at any moment and that he would have to fight a uniform. It also had a red part in the middle part that was what connected it to the skirt it had at the lowest part.

Definitely, a suit made for and ONLY for girls.

"Okay…now let's get outta here."

* * *

Ryuko was woken up by Mako's insistent voice that begged her to wake up. "Ryuko! Ryuko! Wake up! We're going to be late for our second day!"

What was the fucking deal? It wasn't as if it being the second day was  _that_ important, the school was always a pain In the ass for Ryuko, whenever she didn't have to deal with bastards trying to take advantage of her, she had to endure the boring classes that took place in every school, the professors didn't even try to get along with them! They were just there waiting for the payment while watching chaos breaking in the classrooms without doing a thing until the director grows tired of it and the ones causing the chaos were reprimanded, verbally and physically, Ryuko witnessed that first-hand plenty of times, times when it wasn't her fault at all, what did these idiots expect? For her to remain quiet while some asshole attempted to abuse her? It would be a cold day in hell when she did that, she would not let this stupid world win over her.

"Mako, I'll go, leave me alone!"

"Alright!"

Mako left from the room's door in an instant, which left Ryuko stunned for a moment until she snapped out of it. "That was strange…"

The girl stood up from the futon that Mako gave her to sleep and, searching for her clothes inside her case, she heard a loud thud outside the window. Something, or  _someone_ , fell, coincidentally when she was about to take off the pajamas Mako's mom gave her yesterday's night.

With a dangerously narrowed gaze and a vein bulging in her temple, she walked to the window, expecting whoever the idiot who fell trying to peep on her to be either Mako's father, Mataro, or both, they tried to do so yesterday's night when she entered the bathroom.

To her shock…

"You…"

She cracked her knuckles once she opened the window; before her, the fallen figure of  _Sho Suzuki_ was laying in the ground, rubbing his head with his hand. "Ouch…that kinda hurt…"

"I'll make you wish to be in hell, bastard!"

Ryuko was about to hop from the window, to hell with the deal she made with Sho, that was until Sho stood rapidly from where he was and put his hands in front, in the universal gesture of peace. "Now now Ryuko! It's not what you think!"

The scissor blade wielder rolled her way too short sleeves for pajamas even more. "Yeah?! Tell me what is it then!"

In response, Sho pulled out a navy blue sailor uniform from his jacket. "You see, I was gonna tell you to put on this!"

Ryuko glared to what Sho showed her and, with some of her fury gone, she spoke: "A sailor uniform? That doesn't explain why you tried to peep on me!"

Sho huffed at Ryuko's stubbornness. "Let's leave that matter aside, besides, I like girly girls, Y'know."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!"

The ginger-haired Esper shook his head. "Geez! Calm down! This sailor uniform isn't a normal sailor uniform, get it now? I wanted you to put on this because it's important, guess why?"

Ryuko raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well…" Sho displayed the uniform for her to see, letting Ryuko witness how it was in all his glory. "…cuz it's a gift from your old man, Ryuko!"

Those words were unexpected, and Ryuko's mind took a moment to process what the Esper just said before her eyes widened and she yelled, but this time, she didn't know she was yelling. "W-What?! How do you…How do you know about my father?! Answer me!"

"We'll go to that matter later! For now, help yourself and your dad and put on this!"

Sho tossed the outfit to Ryuko, who didn't have any other choice than grabbing it to not let the " _Gift"_ fall to the ground and get dirty. She glanced to Sho, something came to her mind.

What if the one who knew about the scissor blade owner was  _him_  and not Mob?!

"Sho! You know who's the other scissor owner don't you?!"

"Damn no! I dunno, but I know who your father was because of an acquaintance, who had another acquaintance that knew about your father, I can't be more clueless about who the heck is the other blade owner, sorry."

Sho glanced at the sailor uniform. "If it helps you in any way, I'll repeat it, that's a gift from your father, use it properly."

Ryuko's hope could be seen through her eyes, and who could blame her? First the bitch Satsuki offered her answers, and now Sho was saying that other two persons knew who he was! They could know something.

"And…who are these acquaintances?" She questioned, only for Sho to shook his head. "Patience, don't be like me, Ryuko, we'll cross that bridge once you're done with Fukoroda, for now, focus on winning, I'm expectin' you to give me that beatdown, we have a deal, remember?"

That brought a smile to her face. "You really want me to make quick work of your ass, don't ya? Just you wait."

"I'll give you an advice, don't let him pull any trick out of his ass," Sho turned and placed his hands on the pockets of his pants. "I'll be watching your fight and giving you the cheers out there, good luck!"

To Ryuko's surprise, Sho jumped high and disappeared in the distance as he hopped from one house to another, going to who knows where, and she was left with her thoughts.

Mako broke onto the room with a face of concern. "Ryuko! Ryuko! Are you alright? You were yelling too much! You woke Guts even!"

But Ryuko was too busy watching over what Sho called " _Gift",_ and Mako worriedly walked over her to see what was the object of her attention. "A sailor uniform! Where'd you found it? Don't tell me you borrowed it from a corpse, Ryuko, that's bad!"

"Corpse?" She inquired, only for Mako to nod eagerly. "Yup! Every day someone is killed and their corpses can be found on dark alleys! Don't worry! If someone kills you I'll give you a proper burial!"

The fact that Mako spoke so carelessly about the death was somewhat disturbing, but Ryuko still felt better having her company, it was refreshing after all the crap she had been through across her life.

* * *

Shigeo's waking routine was simple; he did his needs, he went for breakfast, which always included milk, and if there wasn't milk, he would most probably go and buy it in the closest market. After breakfast, he went to school and studied, he wasn't the most brilliant person out there, but he did the effort. He wanted to live life at its fullest, he was lucky to have everything he had, Mogami made him see that fact after the half year he passed in that dark world created by him.

He looked forward to seeing his newest friends, Ryuko and Mako, he himself was impressed that the first two friends he made in this place were girls, it wasn't that he was shy, not anymore, but he did get along better with men than with women.

Right now, he was entering the city's tram, but this time, the students who saw him about to place a foot in the tram abandoned it and started to run towards the school the hard way. The ones who didn't saw him enter in time stayed in the tram, sweating profusely, while some others were just standing like normal people, but these were scarce in comparison.

Okay, this was excessive; he asked Teru if he knew someone called "White T-Poison" yesterday's night via WhatsUpp and the latter answered that he, HE, was White T-Poison, a legendary student whose biggest feat was beating Teruki Hanazawa and apparently…an adult.

Yes, because some of the guys who watched his onslaught against Koyama had the nerve to RECORD the event, which was something Shigeo didn't care much about, apart from the fact that they recorded an event he wasn't proud of in the slightest.

Even if they posted it on the Internet, he didn't care.

What he cared about, however, was that it was affecting how the people viewed him, he wasn't an overpowered delinquent who found pleasure in belittling and punching others, he was just your day by day boy trying to find his way through life.

"Shige!"

Oh, well, at least there were a few that still tried to be his friends, what more could he ask for?

"Mako!" He greeted as he turned to face the girl of the bowl cut, who was smiling at him. "Hi! How was your night? I dreamed that I had psychic powers like you and that I was a heroine! Are you a hero, Shige? It would really fit you!"

An image of him with a cape, a white t-shirt, and his old bowl cut came to Shigeo's mind. Being a hero would be way too tiring, he wasn't uncaring when it came to delinquents, he actually bothered to stop one once, when he and Ritsu were on a store searching for a gift for their mother on her birthday. He still remembered the face of Ritsu when he saw how he knocked out a person with a neuronal shockwave, it was priceless. The shockwave didn't intend to hurt, and that's what he mostly did when stuff like that happened.

One time Ritsu even mistook it and thought he brutalized some guys when he just knocked them with shockwaves, but Shigeo couldn't blame him, it was way too dark that night, and the lamp posts had to be repaired.

Rumors even spread across the city, and he got a mention in the newspaper one time, but his brother stopped the rumors eventually, and Shigeo didn't know how. He wasn't worried about the government discovering his powers, though. Apparently, they already had known for a long time about psychics, it was the society who didn't know about the espers, and in words of Reigen, most of them, cities that weren't Seasoning City, weren't prepared.

One just had to catch a glimpse of how Serizawa lived to see that, in fact, most people weren't prepared for espers yet.

Shigeo came to the conclusion that more than one person was purposely hiding their powers due to the fear of how others would react, it was the most logical thing, he was lucky to have born in a place full of good persons like Seasoning City, even though it wasn't perfect, but nothing could be perfect.

Right now, he was witnessing how people weren't prepared for espers thanks to all these students shivering at his presence.

Except for Mako.

"No, Mako, I'm not a hero."

"Aww! Here I thought I could be your sidekick!"

If he still had his bowl cut, and if Mako had psychic powers, how would people call them assuming they didn't freak out first? The bowl duo? Helmet Psychics?

"Hey, Mob."

The esper's gaze shifted towards the person who greeted him, the voice is recognized, it was Ryuko, and she was walking towards him and Mako carrying her guitar case. "Hi, Ryuko."

She was wearing the same clothes she wore yesterday.

"Ready to see how I crush that boxing douche?" She cockily asked, earning a nod from the teenager. "I'm looking forward to it."

He did not like fights, not even as a sport, but yet, he wanted Ryuko's questions to be answered. "See this place? There's a distinct gap between poor and rich here."

"Yeah! That's because this place is governed by Satsuki Kiryuin! Top-tier students are placed in the exclusive residential area, while us No-Stars commoners have to live in the slums!"

Shigeo, for the first time in the day, frowned. " _Commoners?"_

"Yup! Commoners, Shige! I know you aren't a commoner because of your psychic powers!"

The esper glanced to Ryuko, who only shrugged before he answered. "There's nothing such as commoners, Mako, everyone has the same value and worthiness, just because these guys out there have Goku Uniforms it doesn't mean they're anything better than you, or me, or Ryuko, they aren't special, and so we aren't."

Mako stared at him with an unreadable expression, until she smiled and threw herself to Shigeo, who didn't have any other option than catching her. "I've never viewed it that way! You're so special Shige! You see stuff that we can't!"

It seemed that Mako didn't get the message, if the fact that he called him "special" said anything, and Shigeo sighed. Maybe he forgot about a key detail in his words, maybe he didn't express himself right.

But Ryuko was laughing at him. "What's so funny, Ryuko?" He inquired, and the girl just shrugged again, with a grin. "Nothing, just that Mako didn't get it all."

"Get what Ryuko? Mako wants to understand!" The brown-haired girl exclaimed, and Ryuko sighed, whereas Shigeo was mildly surprised that Ryuko, effectively, understood what he said.

"Know a joke, Mob?"

And now she was legitimately trying to establish a conversation with him, and Shigeo scratched his head. "Well, I have plenty of jokes about unemployed people, but none of them work."

"Tell me o-"

Ryuko caught up with the meaning of what Shigeo said, and with a grin, she elbowed him in the arm playfully. "What a smartass you are."

The esper just stood confused, while Mako remained there glancing between Ryuko and Shigeo, that was until the black-haired teenager caught up with what he himself said, too. "I didn't mean it…" He said with a sheepish smile, and Ryuko let out a huge  _"Huh?"._

"Eh, that's strange then."

Ryuko glanced around and witnessed how the people around them were trembling, also noticing that they were already at the Two-Star district.

"See? This is a hell of a difference, these pricks live in heaven."

Both Shigeo and Mako gave Ryuko a glance, provoking her to ask "What?"

The esper laughed, and Mako giggled. "Of course Ryuko! Honno City is designed so it can be in the heavens!" Mako affirmed energetically and Ryuko remembered how this city looked when she arrived, it was like a mountain piercing through heaven.

"Oh, right."

* * *

The school passed relatively fast, on the break, Gamagori announced to all the school when and where the fight between the transfer student, Ryuko Matoi and the boxing club president, Takaharu Fukoroda, would take place.

Shigeo was sitting in a bench of the One-Star district along with Ryuko, Mako was doing her club activity in another part of the city, AKA the school, where the Tennis Club's activities took place.

"My fight is scheduled at late afternoon, heh, I guess it's fine."

Shigeo nodded in agreement. "That's more time we can use for you to prepare."

" _We?_ I'll be the one who will fight, Mob, and you better not interfere, this is between me and that bastard, got it?"

Shigeo shook his head. "You're getting it wrong, I'll only interfere if you get too hurt."

Ryuko huffed. "That's exactly what I don't want, I don't need you and I'm not weak, damn it! That boxing idiot just got some lucky hits on me, that's all, now trigger your barrier, I need a punching bag."

The esper raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "But, you said you don't need me."

The girl stared at him with an unreadable face until she spoke. "Uh, I take back what I said, I need you."

"That…makes me glad."

Few to no persons declared that they needed him, and these persons were his parents and his brother, Reigen openly said that watching him grow was his favorite activity, Shigeo was Dimple's first friend and if it wasn't for Shigeo, Serizawa would've never turned out to be who he was now.

In other words, the Spirits and Such consultation office needed him.

But Ryuko…?

"H-Hey! Only for training! Don't confound stuff!"

"Alright."

Shigeo stood up and walked in direction to the green zone of the One-Star district. "Mob, where are you going?"

The question was unexpected, Shigeo believed that Ryuko was going to follow him. "To train?"

"Oh, right." Ryuko stood up and followed the esper, eventually catching up with him. "So, how your city was?"

That was something Shigeo knew very well, he passed almost his entire life in that place. "It was full of spirits, but I guess every place in the world is full of spirits, " Shigeo stopped in his tracks and glanced to Ryuko, who did the same. "I shared my energy with you yesterday, it should've made you see ghosts, did you saw one?"

Ryuko was watching him with a skeptical face, replying "No, I hadn't, why?"

Shigeo figured out that she wasn't quite believing in what he was saying, so he just let out what he wasn't planning on letting out. "My middle-time job is exorcising evil spirits."

The skeptical face of Ryuko unwaveringly remained. "You say, like the Ghostbusters and all that shit?"

Shigeo nodded in response, and Ryuko spoke words that had some truth behind them. "These pricks who work as exorcists are fuckin' liars, I don't know how did you end up with one of these."

The esper's gaze fell to the ground, the memory of his master confessing that he didn't have any powers that disastrous day was still fresh in his mind. "That may be true, but I don't regret it in the slightest, it was thanks to him that I became who I am."

"You aren't a liar, right?"

Shigeo shook his head. "I'm not a liar, I'd hate to be one, I just want to aid people being bothered by evil spirits."

Ryuko raised an eyebrow, not believing a single thing. After hearing that he worked as an exorcist, she didn't know if believe in what he was saying, but, what would drive Mob to lie?

"If you're sayin' the truth, then why don't you show me an ' _evil spirit'_?"

Then it happened, Shigeo's phone ringed, indicating he was receiving a call. He pulled his phone out and answered. "Yes?"

Ryuko listened to the conversation with curiosity that she didn't know she had, it could be perfectly his parents, or his brother, or any other friend he had, like that Hanazawa.

"Yes, I'm the one working at Spirits and Such here…a problem with…paranormal?"

Okay, now that was weird and VERY convenient. Ryuko frowned, thinking that Shigeo was mocking her. "I'll go there…money? 300 yen is okay?"

And shouldn't the client be the one saying that? Not only that, but 300 yen was awfully low, Ryuko couldn't believe that Shigeo was willing to work with that amount of payment, but seeing that he worked as an exorcist, well, it was better, she heard of idiots who worked for 500,000 yen, which was awfully high.

"I'll be there in a minute."

With that, Shigeo hung.

Shigeo looked at her.

And Shigeo smiled.

"What a coincidence, Ryuko, " He walked past her. "If you want to see a ghost, follow me, please."

"You ain't need to be so polite about it, I'll go."

The two walked alongside each other to the place where Shigeo got called.

* * *

"You've gotta be kidding me…"

Ryuko was watching with an unimpressed face what was in front of her, and Shigeo was just staring at it with an unreadable expression.

It was a manhole cover, taking it off would give them a way to enter the sewers. "The people here sure is crazy as fuck…" Ryuko said, covering her nose, the smell here in the alley was horrendous.

Shigeo recalled the words told by the first and probably the last client he would have in this place,  _"It's the ghost of a man that died falling to the sewers after being scared by a rat! He goes out of the sewers in the night and haunts this neighborhood!",_ and it was, in words of Ryuko, the most surreal story and death she ever heard of, her main argument being that no one on their right mind would enter to this smelly alley, at least not unless they were drunk.

"You don't have to follow me if you don't want, Ryuko."

She glanced at him with a narrowed gaze. "Are you trying to stop me from watching your ' _exorcism'_?" Her narrowed gaze turned into a defiant one. "Ya know, I won't stop following you."

The tone she used didn't leave place for denial, and the sarcasm on it when she said "Exorcism" hadn't passed unnoticed by the esper. "If you don't believe me about the spirits and that stuff, I understand, you can leave if-"

The Esper was abruptly interrupted by her. "I don't believe in spirits…but I ain't having anything to do apart from this."

Shigeo remained with an unreadable expression, embracing what Ryuko just told him. Did she really lack any activity she particularly enjoyed? Not even watching the sky? That must be a real problem for her, why would she lack that?

But, he would ask her about that later, it was time to do some work. "I understand, follow me then."

The girl's eyes widened in mild surprise before she did as she was told, and the two went down through the ladder, and once they were inside the sewers, Ryuko grimaced and covered her nose. "Goddamn it! This place really smells like fuckin' shit!"

Shigeo covered his nose too, the smell from outside was hardly tolerable, but it couldn't compare to the hellish scent from inside, it felt as if someone was igniting a flame in his nose, a flame particularly bad smelling, so he had to breathe from the mouth, and so Ryuko had to.

"Are you sure this isn't a trap from someone trying to kill you with this?" The girl of the red bang inquired between breaths, earning Shigeo's answer quite fast. "That would be cruel,"

Needless to say, he spoke between breaths, too. "And I didn't hurt anyone, so why would anyone want to kill me?"

"Well, I don't know! Just because they hate you?"

That actually put Shigeo thinking. What if someone hated him and he was oblivious to it? It would be logical, it was just impossible for him or any other person to be appreciated by everyone, and he had to appreciate back these who cared for him.

But it would make no sense if someone unknown just appeared out of the blue and yelled " _I hate you!"_ before punching him straight in the nose.

"That wouldn't make sense at all, Ryuko." He affirmed as the two walked past the tunnels, searching the so-called evil spirit.

"It doesn't have to make sense, I've been attacked by other pricks just 'cuz they hated me."

Did Ryuko endure that daily? That would be a huge problem, what was he oblivious about?

"We can talk about it later?"

"Talk…Talk about it later?" She shook her head, confusing the esper she was accompanying. "I'm fine, I ain't need any shitty talk you have, if anything, you should be worried about yourself, because I'll kick your ass if you feel bad for me."

She seriously hated when someone showed that they felt bad for her. "I didn't mean to offend you with that, I just wanted to help you."

"You can be of help being my punchin' bag, what do ya say?" She asked with a mischievous smirk, but these tricks didn't work on Shigeo, his rage button wasn't working very well perhaps, and Ryuko found herself surprised when, in response to her sly remark, Shigeo just looked at her, covering his nose and all that, smiling a kind smile. "I can be so if it helps you, Ryuko."

It seemed that she would have to grow accustomed to his way too calm, friendly personality. Really, nothing could piss him off. "Uh, yeah, whatever."

These words came out because she didn't know what else to say, what else to respond with.

"We're close to the spirit."

The way he carelessly spoke about being close to a spirit, something she deemed unreal and stupid, only seemed to increase Ryuko's skepticism about the situation. "What about it?"

In a moment, a horde of spirits of diverse forms and lengths manifested, and she jumped from the shock, falling on her backside, and rubbing her eyes to see if this wasn't a trick of her mind.

Perhaps, it wasn't.

"What the hell?!"

Shigeo scratched his cheek nonchalantly. "I miscalculated…there were more than one spirit."

"Huh?!" Ryuko glared to him In disbelief. "Huh?!" The girl glared at the ghosts with the same impression. "And you say it just like that?!"

At the last glance she gave him, Shigeo's gaze shifted to her. "I'm used to this, Ryuko, besides," Shigeo looked briefly to one of the ghosts, it was a humanoid bull with red black eyes, exhaling vapor from the nose, and the others were like insects or fusions of many things, but they shared the same vicious appearance. "They don't seem so smart."

Ryuko stood from the spot where she was laying. "Okay, I admit it, you've got me on there, spirits are real, but what now?"

Shigeo started walking quietly towards the spirits in the distance, earning a " _Hey!"_ from Ryuko. "The next part is exorcising them, stay back, please."

The flabbergasted girl stared at him with wide eyes. "You can't be serious! They are way too many an-"

A loud and animalistic roar echoed in the tunnel, the responsible of it being the bull, who seemed to be the leader of all the troop of evil spirits, before all of them charged to Shigeo, and when Ryuko thought that the guy was about to be inevitably stomped, all of the spirits disappeared in a spectacle of lights and colors that lasted a few seconds, seconds that were enough for her mouth to fall in both incredulity and amazement.

When the colorful disaster of lights ended, Shigeo glanced back at her. "That was an exorcism, Ryuko."

She remained stupefied by what she just witnessed, her mind having difficulty taking all of this at the moment until she found the words to speak. "Don't be so matter-of-fact about it! Damn..that…was the most freaky thing I've ever seen in my fucking life."

Shigeo raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Freaky? How…?"

A smirk made its way to her face, her eyes meeting his. "In a cool way, Mob."

Actually, if they were closer as friends, that half-hearted praise could've ignited a warm feeling in Shigeo's chest, the same sensation a kid being praised for his father felt, or the same feeling a person felt when a genuine friend valued his efforts, but right now, he only felt right.

It was improbable, but they could be growing closer as friends faster than they thought, and it was all Shigeo's fault, he and his stupid let's-get-along personality, but the worst part? Ryuko was following him despite  _that_ fact.

The smile that was in Ryuko's face appeared in Shigeo's, too. "Let's go, there's one spirit left, Ryuko."

"I'm fine with it."

Then the two went further down the tunnel until they reached a spot where Shigeo warned her to stop walking. "It's here."

Ryuko glanced around carefully, searching for any signal of an evil entity within the place, only to be met by a man holding a beer bottle, with blue shining skin, he was also bald, but other than all these things, he seemed somewhat…normal, but he was obviously an evil spirit unless Ryuko was wrong and the guy was the smurfs grandpa, which wouldn't surprise Ryuko at this point.

"I heard you were bothering people living outside, please, leave this place."

Shigeo could feel it in his aura, this spirit was as strong as Dimple when they first fought, and it could wreak havoc if he didn't act carefully, Ryuko's well-being was important.

"You're nice, kiddo, it's hard to find boys like you these days…" The man's bottle suddenly turned into a chainsaw merged with his arm, and his previously unexpressive gaze was replaced by a wicked grin, his eyes becoming completely black. "It will be a pity when I kill you, but first…" His deadly gaze fixated in Ryuko before the spectrum wrinkled the bridge of his nose as if he was smelling something particularly bad.

"You aren't a nice girl! You'll die first!"

"Fuck off with that and bring it, old dead fart!"

Shigeo glanced in astonishment to Ryuko. Moments ago, she was shocked at seeing a horde of spirits, and she was now insulting a spirit, how odd. "Ryuko, stay away!"

The evil spirit lunged towards the teenagers, aiming his chainsaw to the one who, in his words, wasn't nice, intending to cut her in half. Ryuko was about to place her scissor blade in front of her so it could defend her from the slash, and when the ghost was about to reach her, Shigeo stood in front, receiving the chainsaw in his chest.

But it didn't even cut his uniform.

"What?!"

Jumping back, the spectrum's chainsaw arm turned into a Gatling gun and he threw a rain of spiritual bullets made precisely to kill, and Shigeo acted fast, moving Ryuko away with telekinesis, and raising a barrier against the bullets just in time to reflect a bullet about to reach his nose.

Barrier activated, Shigeo impulsed himself with telekinesis, trying to grab the spirit by his shirt, only for the old man to crouch just in time, which was not expected by the esper, who turned in the air quickly, finding out that the evil spirit's left arm could also deform into weapons, and the weapon selected by the spirit was a sword about the length of Ryuko's scissor blade, and Shigeo instinctively moved his head to the side when the ghost aimed his sword to his eye, getting a cut in the cheek instead.

Realizing that this spirit was not one to hesitate when doing things and that was serious about killing him off, Shigeo used telekinesis to erase him, but the spirit hopped from where his attack was triggered, avoiding the psychic impact and lunging to Shigeo again, who was still suspended in the air.

The latter utilized another psychic impact on the front and had the spirit not dodged it, it would have eradicated his whole being.

This psychic kid was a real threat.

Aiming his sword to Shigeo's eye again, the ghost found out that the boy purposely let himself fall from the air to take him by the shirt, and with a darkened glare, Shigeo focused all his power on the spirit's head, knowing that it was VERY harmful and that it must be destroyed at all costs.

Unfortunately, this spirit was very crafty, and in a do-or-die act, he moved his head to the side rapidly, avoiding the psycho impact, all to Shigeo's frustration; if only Ryuko wasn't here, and if only this spirit wasn't so intelligent, he could have just finished him off calmly, but alas, it was not the case.

It converted his right arm into an axe and directed it towards Shigeo's neck, Ryuko, who was witnessing all of this helplessly from far, thought that Shigeo was about to be decapitated.

Not today.

A barrier protected Shigeo in the exact moment the axe was about to land in his neck.

Ryuko let out a breath she did not know she was holding and started to think of what to do; for one side, she really wanted to lend a hand to the esper in finishing the creature off, but for the other, she could distract him and get him killed by the ghost, so she was in an inner conflict, not to mention the fact that she heavily doubted her blade could harm a ghost.

Whereas she thought about what to do, Shigeo struggled against the ghost, who was now trying to stab him with his left arm's sword, Shigeo triggering a barrier and counter-attacking with a psychically enhanced punch in the cheek of the ghost, followed by a punch in the chin, provoking the spirit to go upwards only to be grabbed again by the shirt by Shigeo, who slammed him against the floor brutally, shattering a great part of the whole floor in the sewers, and Ryuko almost fell due to the ground briefly trembling.

Laying in the ground, the ghost turned his arm into a beam cannon, something that didn't pass unnoticed by Shigeo, and he instantly realized what would happen if that thing was used here; the sewers would collapse, and what was worst, Ryuko would die crushed by the debris!

_He had to stop it, and he knew how!_

Not hesitating a second, Shigeo started to absorb the power accumulating in the beam cannon, the blueish energy slowly coming to him, to the spectrum's surprise.

"You're absorbing my energy?!"

Shigeo could feel all the emotions swelling inside the spectrum; hatred, sadness, anger, desperation, he was actually thinking about letting him live longer, let him leave in peace, but then, he remembered it.

Ryuko could be harmed, and the ghost leaving peacefully was a highly unlikely scenario.

"Sorry…"

Ruthlessly, Shigeo now focused all the energy in the whole zone beneath him, creating a psychic impact that consumed the soul in the attack, all while the scream of pain it emitted invaded Shigeo's mind.

He was exorcised.

Shigeo stood up on the small crater he left, the dirty water running down on it as he strolled out of, all while his cheek bleed, product of the slash the spirit performed on him; thinking about it, he could have perfectly avoided all of that by just focusing his energy in front of the spirit, but he was too worried about the sewers collapsing that he did not think about it in the edge of the moment.

"Mob!"

In the distance, he could see Ryuko, hearing her calling for him, and walking towards the girl until he was in front of her. "Your cheek…damn, that's one hell of a cut."

Shigeo touched the cheek where he got cut and retreated his hand, grunting in pain, that was, like Ryuko said, a really bad cut.

"Hey, dumbass, what do ya think you're doing? You'll hurt yourself if you do that!"

Shigeo glanced to his hand and saw blood as if the cut alone was not enough, he was bleeding, bleeding in a place such as the sewers of the city, he could catch an infection.

"Sorry for worrying you Ryuko…I'll not do it again." He said with a sheepish smile, and Ryuko huffed.

"Man, you're hopeless, let's get outta here."

Ryuko remembered that she accompanied the esper to the sewers, the SEWERS, an obviously dirty place, and she was now obviously dirty and smelly.

"Right, we should do that."

"And you should get that shit treated once we get out, it looks like it hurts like bitch."

The only thing Shigeo could do was a nod in agreement, running close to the girl towards the exit of the sewers, an important matter coming to his mind as he ran alongside her.

He glanced to the side and noticed how Ryuko was looking at his slashed cheek, with a face that could only be perceived as concern, and Shigeo felt glad that she was worrying for him, even though they had only met each other for a day.

"Ryuko, we're smelly."

"No shit Sherlock, we've been in the freakin' sewers for who knows how long, it's pretty obvious that we're smelly," Ryuko replied with a deadpan.

"What I'm saying is that we should bathe." Shigeo replied back, earning an "Oh, right." from Ryuko, who stopped looking at him and focused in the way of the front, Shigeo did the same.

"I don't think I'll be able to bathe until night…"

The esper looked to the girl, and Ryuko felt as if he was expecting her to further explain that. "I mean, Mako's mother said that they always prepared the shower in the night, and…"

Shigeo understood almost instantly, and he was even impressed at the fastness he figured out where Ryuko was going, overall because just three years ago he had BIG trouble in understanding people, but, Reigen did wonders, he and the Body Improvement Club, his buddies, and all those people.

"You don't want to bother them into preparing the water twice in a day…?"

"Yeah, that."

Ryuko, as self-centered as she was, wasn't fond of being a burden, a nuisance to others, but what bugged her the most was that Shigeo knew where she was going, was she  _that_ predictable?

"That's okay, we can bathe in my apartment."

" _We?"_

The esper figured that Ryuko misunderstood what he said, if her dangerously narrowed gaze meant anything, so he decided to explain it further. "Yes, we, one by one."

"Oh, right."

The two left rapidly the sewers, hopefully not getting any infection for being down there for so much time.

They would have to bathe, that was certain.

* * *

"Uh, how convenient."

Ryuko remembered that she had another set of underwear and the sailor uniform which was given by Sho, of all people. Now she felt lucky that the asshole showed up to give that to her, it was a real save, and she would put on it.

Said navy blue uniform consisted in a crop top with mid-length sleeves that bared her midriff, a sailor style collar with red stripes tied by a multicolored scarf, and the opposite side of that scarf looked like an eye patch with an X-shaped scratch on it.

Walking out of the room after drying herself with a towel, which Shigeo had PLENTY of these, given by the apartment itself perhaps, Ryuko found him playing with the small hamster that was previously caged in his "Home", also catching a glimpse of the cotton ball attached to Shigeo's cheek with tape, in order to cover the slash.

For some reason, she felt as if it was her fault.

"You like hamsters?"

Shigeo didn't even look at her, he kept playing and patting the hamster, but he answered nonetheless. "They are funny."

"Is it yours?"

She smacked herself mentally, how could she ask such a dumb question? Of course it was his, or else it wouldn't be-

"Actually, it isn't."

Ryuko just stared at him.

"What is it doing here then?"

"I can answer that question."

That voice was recognized by both Ryuko and Shigeo, and the two teenagers glanced to the owner of that voice.

Said owner was sitting in the bunk's upper bed, with a grin. Shigeo was already used to him doing that, whenever he went to visit his brother, Sho always rendered himself invisible when he or his parents knocked on the room's door, but Shigeo could always detect his presence.

The refraction of light was the ability Sho was proud of.

Ryuko was the first to talk, albeit with a frown and a flat tone. "Oh, it's you."

Sho spoke back in an equally flat and disinterested tone. "Dunno if that is a proper greeting for the one who went all the way to your house and recovered that piece of clothing for you."

"Why you-"

"Don't start again, please, " Both Sho and Ryuko glanced to Shigeo, who stood up from his seat. "I'll go bathe, I hope you two don't start a fight."

After his words were said, Shigeo strolled towards the bathroom, which wasn't very far, considering that the apartment wasn't too big. Ryuko's gaze directed towards the esper sitting in the bunk's upper bed.

"Why're you following me?"

The question she made to Sho was answered quite quickly. "I wasn't."

"Yeah? Then why're you here?"

A huff escaped from Sho's mouth as he accommodated himself comfortably in the bed, the perfect position to keep doing the activity he stopped from doing previously. "You ask too many questions, but if you're so eager to know, I sleep here," Sho lifted up the most recent volume of " _One Punch Man_ " for Ryuko to see. "And I wasn't followin' you, I was reading my favorite comic."

"One Punch Man…? Never heard about it." Ryuko affirmed with a nonchalant tone, clearly disinterested at what the esper was showing her.

"Damn, you're in bad shit…wanna read it from the start? I have the first volume."

Of all the things Ryuko expected from him, Sho offering her his favorite comic's first volume for her to read wasn't one of them. Maybe Shigeo was right and she judged him erroneously, maybe Sho was a nice fellow after all.

"Maybe later."

Sho's gaze fell onto the comic once he placed it on the bed again. "Suit yourself."

A silence took over the room as Sho resumed with his lecture, only the sound of drops of water falling on the floor could be heard, courtesy of Shigeo, who was washing himself up, and although the silence didn't feel uncomfortable in any way, it felt…odd, for Ryuko at least.

Having a person who just hours ago acted like an asshole reading a comic in front of you and treating you as a friend was odd.

"So…you were there all this time…?"

Again, her question was answered quickly, as Sho turned the page of his comic. "Yeah."

"…How…?"

The esper stopped his lecture to face her. "It's called ' _Refraction of Light',_ it can turn me invisible."

That was actually a nice ability in Ryuko's perspective. "Invisible? Sounds cool."

A good-hearted chuckle came out of Sho's mouth as he glanced to his comic again, reading the page. "You have no idea."

Even with the sound of drops falling, Shigeo could tell that the two were having a peaceful conversation, and it made him glad, these two were finally getting along.

"Hey, about this outfit…you said you found it in my house? That can't be, it was destroyed as crap."

Ryuko's face could only serve as a sign to indicate that she wasn't very happy about the matter, and she couldn't be blamed about it, who wouldn't be mad if someone burned down your house?

Sho's answer didn't take much time to arrive. "Your house had a lot of stuff you didn't know about…"

That response was unexpected for the girl. "What are you talkin' about?"

"I'll say it loud and clear, I don't get why that old man is so adamant about not filling you with information, but I ain't, " Sho's gaze fixated on her, again. "Your pops hid that outfit in a secret room beneath your house, and it isn't a common uniform…"

Now it was time for the hard part. "Huh...why is that?" Ryuko inquired with a raised eyebrow, this was becoming strange.

"What I'm saying is…ehm…that thing you have is a Kamui."

Ryuko's face was unreadable, and her confusion was voiced through the same word Sho used to finish his phrase, but with a questioning tone in her voice. "Kamui? What the hell is that supposed to be?"

Sho's face turned into a grimace, and Ryuko was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable. Little did she know, that Sho was remembering the way a certain blue-haired person explained to him the concept of " _Kamui",_ undressing as he did so, that memory was threatening to haunt Sho in his nightmares.

"…A Kamui is an outfit that gives increases the user's strength far beyond his limits…"

The reaction Sho expected was very distant to what he got.

Ryuko just stared at him.

Before doing a skeptical face. "Is that so? How rare, I don't feel a single shit changing, "

It was now turn of Sho to stare at her with an unreadable face, which only irked Ryuko. "Well?"

"You hadn't activated your Kamui, genius."

Her skeptical face was replaced by an angry face, and Sho thought that things were going back to normal. "And how am I supposed to do that?"

A playful but mischievous grin made its way to Sho's face. "I was waiting for you to ask that."

He pulled a syringe with a needle equipped, and Ryuko felt shivers go down her spine just at the sight of the object. "Hey…what the hell are you doing with a needle…?"

She tried to sound menacing, but her tone came out more like a nervous one, and Sho was enjoying all of it. "Nothing great, I'll only pull out some blood outta you, then you'll see that I'm right about the Kamui."

"Y-You wouldn't! I'll beat the crap out of you if you do it!" She yelled, still trying to sound brave, but, perhaps, it wasn't working, because Sho's insufferable smirk was still there.

"I think I'll take the risk."

Sho was ruthless with telekinesis, he knew how to exploit all the capacities of it to the maximum after practicing with it for three years, trapping Ryuko with it would be child's play.

And so he did.

"Fuck! Let me go, you bastard!" Ryuko shouted, an aura of orange and white color surrounding her, not letting her move an inch of her body.

"Geez, calm down! It'll be just like a little visit to the doctor."

There wasn't any doubt that Sho was enjoying this, and he was enjoying it, even more, when Ryuko started to sweat profusely as he hopped from the bed, only to slowly walk towards her.

"Stop!"

Her words fell on deaf ears, as Sho kept taking slow steps to her, increasing her panic, no one knew, but needles were one of the few if not the only thing that Ryuko feared, and Sho discovered that.

When Sho was finally in front of her, to her utter despair, he walked to her arm and searched for her vein, finding it in no time. "Now now, Ryuko~, this won't hurt a bit!"

He raised the needle to the height at which her arm was, and Ryuko strongly closed her eyes, preparing for her horrible fate, being pinched by a needle.

What did she do to deserve this miserable destiny?

In the instant the needle entered her vein, she pressed her eyes and lips even harder, her face becoming somewhat…cute, to Sho's perspective, and he wasn't the only one who thought that.

Shigeo was going out of the bathroom wearing his bulky light blue anorak, and with eyes like plates, he was witnessing the scene, along with the fact that Ryuko's face looked pretty much like a kid's.

"Suzuki, why are you injecting Ryuko?"

Ryuko's eyes opened wide when she heard that voice.

Did Mob just stood there while watching her getting injected?!

"It's for a short test, nothin' important."

"I heard shouts while I dressed up, were they from Ryuko…?"

"Yeah, she seems to have a phobia to needles."

A blush made its way to Ryuko's face, knowing that both espers discovered her ashaming secret, and this didn't pass unnoticed by Mob.

"That isn't bad, everyone has fears."

"Know it."

And while she was enduring this horrendous event, they were talking as if everything was okay!

"It's done!"

Sho pulled the needle out of her arm, and Ryuko's torture finished, at long last, now it was for  _Sho_ to suffer!

"Goddamit! Release me you prick! I'll beat you so bad you won't sit in a week!"

Her threatening tone, coupled with the growl in her voice made it clear, she was serious about beating him to the point where he wouldn't be able to sit, so Sho would stick with his plan, which was paralyzing Ryuko until he did everything.

"It was just a needle! Why are you going apeshit on me for a  _needle_?" Sho questioned with a raised eyebrow, but that teasing smirk was there, and it would be there forever, it seemed.

"Be quiet, I'll just teach you how to activate your Kamui." Sho tiredly let out, and Shigeo was itching to see what caused Sho to inject Ryuko against her own will, although he wasn't showing it, and remained with his calm expression.

Ryuko was still trying, struggling in a futile attempt to move an inch of her body, but Sho was merciless, and raising the syringe again, he pressed the downside in order for the needle to pour the blood in her outfit, the action puzzling Ryuko.

And when he did, it happened.

Her outfit started to shine with crimson light, pretty much like Toichiro's vermilion aura, and it seemed like it was about to explode.

"Ryuko!"

The concerned yell of Shigeo didn't pass unregistered for the girl, who was stunned at what was happening with her uniform, and she tried to take it off, only to find out that she  _couldn't._

Damn!

"SHO! What the hell is this?! Why can't I take this crap off?!"

"Relax! It's just a light, it will expand, but it isn't harming!" Sho assured, but turned to the side and scratched his chin. "But just in case, I'll trigger a barrier."

And so Sho did.

In seconds, the shield that formed around Ryuko was filled by a crimson light, the espers were unable to see what was happening due to the light's brightness, which provoked them both to cover their eyes.

When the light disappeared, the Kamui in its true form was revealed.

The only phrase that could describe what Sho was thinking of it could be: "What. The. Fuck?"

Shigeo's eyes were open like plates, something rare, as he could always keep a calm face, not an unexpressive one like that of his middle-school time, but a calm one. Now, he wasn't exactly calm.

He felt embarrassment, even though he wasn't the one who was wearing that thing and averted his gaze with a soft blush in his cheeks. "That's…extravagant."

If one said that Ryuko felt embarrassed, it would be an understatement.

She was flustered as hell.

"Huh?!"

The outfit turned into something way too revealing.

The multi-colored scarf turned into a wing-shaped crest and it looked like an eye creepy as hell, one could feel that sensation a person could only feel when someone or  _something_ was watching them. The uniform's upper and lower part transformed into a black and skimpy suit which served as armor, red stripes included, the top section of the armor covered Ryuko's neck, lower jaw, arms, upper breasts, and possessed a red triangular ventilation grill on Ryuko's upper back, Sho and Shigeo couldn't see it. The top armor piece was connected to the skirt by three red garter belt suspenders, two in the front and one in the back.

What was the problem?

Everything between the underside of her breasts was exposed, and if that wasn't enough, her legs were covered with thigh-height high-heeled boots.

When she was about to yell at Sho for what he did to her, not caring about the uniform or the veracity of his words anymore, she remembered that two guys were watching her, with that crap on her!

"Don't look!"

Sho was the only one who turned, as Shigeo was already looking to the other side, which was a relief, and now she would have to think of a way to get out of this shitty outfit.

She tried to take it by the force, emitting growls of anger as she did so, only to find out that she couldn't, again. "Sho! How do I take this thing off?!"

"I-I don't know! They only informed about how it was activated, not how to deactivate it!"

"To hell with you!"

" **Do not take me off!"**

A voice reached Ryuko's ears, and unknown to her, neither Shigeo or Sho heard it. "Heard that?!"

Her alarmed tone indicated that something was off, very off, and that fact was solidified when both Shigeo and Sho shook their heads. "No, we didn't," Sho affirmed.

"I swear I heard someone say 'Don't take me off'!" Her flustered expression turned into a raging one, her gaze focusing on Sho. "It was you Sho! This isn't funny you idiot!"

"I wasn't! I'm not making fun of you, this is embarrassing as hell both for you and me!"

Sho triggered a barrier around himself, just in case Ryuko jumped at his throat.

" **I beg you, do** _ **not**_ **take me off!"**

The same deep male voice sounded again, and this time, Ryuko, shocked as she was, figured out it was the  _uniform,_ and replied. "What kind of perverted sailor uniform are you?!"

Oh, God! She was talking with a sailor uniform! She could feel tiny bits of her sanity vaporizing!

" **This is me."**

And it was replying, the damn thing was  _replying!_

"Don't be so matter-of-fact about it!"

Just a few seconds after she said these words, Ryuko resumed with what he was doing before, which was trying to take the blasted uniform off. "Get off me! Damn you! Why can't I take you off!"

Meanwhile, Shigeo and Sho were already doing their speculations as to why Ryuko was talking alone.

"Goddamn it!"

Ryuko didn't know what to do with all the fury accumulating in her, and without thinking, she punched the table in which Shigeo was supposed to eat, said table wasn't very small, and it was made of steel, just as the door of the apartment.

The table was destroyed, utterly and completely, to all her astonishment.

Shigeo turned to see what happened, and to his shock, the table he only used one time was laying in pieces of steel in the floor, and he obviously caught another glimpse of Ryuko, who realized what she did in an instant.

Momentarily forgetting about her appearance, Ryuko apologized with a furious blush of shame all over her cheeks. "Mob! Sorry! I, eh, I didn't know what I was doing! I'll say it again, I'm sorry!"

This couldn't be more ashaming! She was half naked and she was the harbinger of the destruction of Shigeo's table, the person who along with Mako showed her a kindness she never received in her life, and how did she pay him? By destroying his table!

_She was the worst! No wonder why no one apart from them liked her!_

Shigeo replied her with a calm tone, managing to keep his cool even after seeing the destruction of a valuable object, and a half-naked girl in front of him. "It's okay…it was just a table…just don't do it again."

That actually got her off guard. "Huh?! But…you should be angry! Why aren't you?! Stop being so kind and-"

"I don't see what would be the point in getting angry for an object I didn't pay for, besides, it was a table, I would get angry if you crushed the apartment, but not just for a table."

And with that, Shigeo silenced her.

Nothing could piss this guy off or what?!

"Holy shit!"

Sho's exclamation at seeing the pieces of the table was unexpected both for Shigeo and Ryuko, but not for the being that accompanied them at the moment.  **"I drank your blood, which led to my awakening. This is the power that manifests whenever you wear me and I am worn by you**

"…What the hell are you?"

The question was confusing for Shigeo and Sho, she wasn't talking to them at all.  **"I can't explain that."**

"You just calmly explained how you worked!"

" **I can explain phenomena occurring now, however, my memory…yes, that would be in your language, you can say there are gaps in my memory."**

"You can't remember anything?"

Sho had two theories; one, Ryuko went insane after getting herself almost naked in front of two guys, which wouldn't be very logical, and two, the Kamui was actually talking to Ryuko and she conveniently was the ONLY one who could hear it, which wouldn't be logical either!

But to hell with logic! According to logic, a human couldn't move stuff with mind, and yet he and Shigeo could bend spoons and lift buildings!

Besides, the eye-looking scarf seemed to be an actual eye, if his movement indicated something.

" **I do remember that the one who constructed me had a white beard, an eye patch, and a white lab coat. He was stooped, wore sandals, had a cane in one hand and also, he had a mouse."**

The realization hit Ryuko like a truck as her eyes widened, open like plates. "That man could only be my father!"

Perhaps Sho wasn't lying about this outfit being a 'gift' from her progenitor.  **"Father…?"**

"Yeah, Isshin Matoi, my father, I'm Ryuko, " Ryuko was so focused in the conversation she was maintaining with the outfit that she didn't notice how Sho was examining every part of the Kamui, a little far from her, of course, while Shigeo just stared at the eye of the Kamui, establishing visual contact with it.

That thing was definitely alive.

"My father created you…?"

An idea hit Ryuko.

"Wait! If I have you, I might be able to beat Satsuki Kiryuin and her goons! You'll come with me for a while,  _Senketsu_!"

Sho raised an eyebrow, Shigeo raised both, and Senketsu just glanced a Ryuko with his only eye.

"Senketsu?"

The three asked that, and Ryuko just nodded, proud of the name she put to her outfit. "It'd be a hassle to talk with you having no name, so, if drinking my blood woke you, then I'll call you Senketsu!"

In her mind, she was itching to fight with that boxing douche and show him who's the boss.

Then she remembered how revealing this outfit was, along with the fact that Shigeo and Sho were looking at her, and a furious blush took over her face,  _again._

"W-What are you two staring at, idiots?!"

"Are you gonna fight like  _that_?" Sho inquired, with an almost invisible red tone in his cheeks, unable to not look at the curves of Ryuko's body while examining the Kamui's design.

"It's not as if I have an option, right? Besides, this thing won't go away from me…and stop looking at me like that!"

Sho did as he was told, raising his hands in a signal of peace, while Shigeo scratched his cheek. "If you don't want to fight like that, you can use a hood."

Ryuko considered it briefly before nodding in agreement. "That's actually a great idea…"

Her eye twitched as she noticed how Shigeo was so focused in her, before she yelled at him. "Stop looking at me!"

* * *

Shigeo and Ryuko were walking towards the academy through the long way, Sho, who seemed to be well informed about Honno and every matter that had to do something with Honno, told them the tram didn't pass at six o'clock, so they didn't have any other option rather than just walking across the streets until they arrived at Honnoji.

And Ryuko was still ashamed for what she did back in Shigeo's apartment, even though Shigeo said it was okay and she promised it would never happen again, after cleaning the pieces off the floor of course.

The esper came to a halt, Ryuko did the same, wondering why he stopped.

"I remember something Satsuki said, Ryuko."

Her hidden face beneath the hood Sho found for her emerged, the hood falling on her shoulders as she looked at the esper. "What?"

Red eyes shifted to the ground as Shigeo recalled the words that Satsuki told them yesterday, knowing that hearing them would probably let Ryuko down.

"She said that she would consider answering your questions, not that she  _would._ "

Shigeo expected Ryuko to ground her teeth or anything, but he got another thing. "So what? I'll beat the information out of her with Senketsu if she doesn't spit everythin' she knows."

Ryuko gained more confidence with Senketsu, although all that confidence could dissolve quickly into embarrassment if her hoodie fell for whatever reason during her fight with Fukoroda, which was recently announced by said prick through the PA system.

"Just don't get mad if she doesn't answer you, I believe she'll eventually do."

"You don't believe that."

Ryuko's simple answer to Shigeo's words made him realize a fact he wasn't really aware of; he actually didn't believe these words he said before.

"You're right, she probably won't…"

After Shigeo spoke and the two resumed with their walk towards the academy, Senketsu's deep voice sounded in Ryuko's mind.  **"Shigeo is right, though; you must not get angry, or else your blood will boil, and I will not be capable of not drinking all of it, we would lose control, Ryuko, so I suggest you remain calm."**

"That's no big deal," Ryuko said, causing Shigeo to frown in confusion. "It's not…?"

"I wasn't saying it to you, Mob."

Oh, she was talking with Senketsu again, the speaking uniform, although he couldn't hear him, Sho explained to him about Senketsu, who, perhaps, was a 'Kamui', an outfit that gave the wearer godlike abilities.

It sounded pulled out from an anime for kids.

Except for the fact that the outfit left NOTHING to the imagination, definitely, kids wouldn't watch that, their parents wouldn't let them.

"Ryuko."

"Hmm?"

"Why are we walking?"

Ryuko stopped in her tracks and glanced to Shigeo again. "What do you mean?"

Shigeo came to a halt when she stopped and returned the glance. "We could be running to the academy, Fukoroda announced your fight a few minutes ago, "

Then, at that moment, the realization hit Shigeo, and he smiled. "I suppose we just enjoy each other's company, "

"You say a lot of embarrassing things…just shut up and walk."

And so, the two resumed with their walk to the academy, but little did Shigeo know, that the same smile that appeared just seconds ago in his face, appeared in Ryuko's face too.

Yep, she really liked talking with him.

Their arrival at the academy would take at least half an hour if they kept walking calmly to the academy.

"Mob, do you believe I'll win?"

An unexpected question for the esper. Ryuko, decided, stubborn and fierce as she was, seek to hear his opinion about her incoming fight.

"If you believe you can, then it means you  _can,_ " His gaze shifted at her. "I believe you can win, because you believe you can win."

"That's all?"

"I believed in myself, and I made it to where I am now, you can do the same."

Ryuko didn't understand what he meant by 'I made it to where I am', but she couldn't think about it further because Senketsu spoke again.

" **Ryuko, you should hurry, there is no time to lose, I am drinking your blood too fast."**

"Then stop drinkin' it!" She replied with an annoyed tone, and her blue eyes met Shigeo's red ones. "Senketsu says that he's drinking my blood and that I shouldn't lose time walking, so…see you in the school?"

Shigeo nodded. "I'll be there."

In silent gladness, Ryuko left the One-Star district quite quickly due to the enhanced speed bestowed by the Kamui, and Shigeo was left behind.

He thought it would be right to do some trotting towards the academy.

* * *

"So, you came, after all, transfer student!"

"I've never turned down a challenge and I don't plan on starting now, douchebag!"

There, on the ring, the two fighters were about to start a fight in front of the whole school, the Elite-Four and their leader, Satsuki Kiryuin, were watching from the top.

"So be it, insolent bitch!"

Fukuroda didn't wait for the fight to be announced, and in the blink of an eye, a nightmarish barrage of punches was triggered by him and his glove, the small one and the one who seemed to serve to do only that.

Ryuko received all of them, unwaveringly standing in her position, a thing that surprised but at the same time thrilled Fukuroda into increasing the number and speed of the fists. "I dunno how you can stand my attack, but it's all over for you, transfer student!"

The boxer jumped from his position, leaving a dent in the ring's arena and preparing to perform his finishing move with the massive glove he possessed.

"YOU'LL REGRET MESSING WITH HONNOJI ACADEMY!"

His glove quickly turned into a drill-like attack, an attack that would kill any normal human landing in Ryuko, hitting her all the way.

Or so it seemed.

In an instant, her brown coat was destroyed due to the impact with the glove, revealing that she was guarding herself with the scissor blade left by her father.

And her outfit was revealed, too.

Countless students gasped at what they witnessed, some others screamed in surprise, others started drooling, but something was certain, everyone was shocked at the thing that appeared in front.

Fukuroda wasn't an exception.

"W-What kind of outfit is that?! You're mocking boxing, no, you're mocking all sports with that!"

"I'm not!"

A blush took over Ryuko's face again, but this time, she retained her menacing expression, futilely trying to intimidate Fukuroda, but he was too busy focused on  _other things._

"Impossible! You're trying to distract me with your sexiness!"

Ryuko noticed how Fukuroda's expression was becoming even more perverted as he tried to get closer to her body. "Stop gawking and fight, idiot!"

In the scandalous crowds, Mako was covering her mouth in shock, before yelling energetically. "Ryuko! You naughty girl! You're amazing, no one in their right minds would wear that! Ryuko! Ryuko!"

Her last mentions of her name came out as cheers, and Sho, who was watching along with Mako, bursted out laughing. "Hahaha! Ya got that right, Mako!"

Although, the esper didn't mind  _this_ view, not at all, and neither did Mataro Mankanshoku.

"Hey! What do ya think of the view? Amazing it isn't?" The boy asked with a perverted look, earning a nod from Sho. "Hell yeah…hey, you're taking photos…?"

Mataro, who started taking photos with a phone he borrowed, nodded eagerly. "Yep, 'cuz why not?"

"Haha…I just hope Ryuko doesn't kill when she finds out what you did."

Back in the ring, Fukuroda hopped off from Ryuko and his voice acquired a serious tone. "In that case….I may undress as well…"

The blush in Ryuko's face intensified and she shouted to the boxer. "Now you're the one mocking sports!"

Just when Ryuko thought that Fukuroda was about to do what  _she_ thought he would, the boxer unzipped his massive glove's closure, revealing his triumph card.

"Behold! My ultimate weapon, you sure wonder 'Why'd he hide it?', the answer is, I hide it from other students so I can get good one-on-one fights in competences! They always pee on their pants whenever I pull this out!"

Sharp and big spikes emerged from the square that Fukuroda called "Triumph Card". "This. Is. A. Goku. Uni-form!"

The boxer cocked the weapon back, preparing to assault Ryuko. "No turnin' back now! I'll defeat you with this!"

Ryuko just looked at the glove with a narrowed gaze. "Even an amateur like me knows that would be illegal in a real fight, " A smirk of confidence showed up on Ryuko's face. "But still, you're on!"

Unlike the first time, the second round was presented properly, with someone raising a sign saying "2nd Round" and all before Fukuroda lunged to Ryuko, first throwing a flurry of punches with the small glove.

Predictable.

And Ryuko view no need to dodge the punches, receiving all of them again, but this time, not guarding herself, irking Fukuroda, who started to thought what to do next in the ardor of the moment, moving rapidly through the ring as the punches attacked Ryuko, deciding to assault her with a powerful haymaker.

"DIE!"

The attack impacted in Ryuko's cheek, the crowd emitting screams of shock as the wind swelled around, a product of the force behind the punch, the spot where Ryuko was standing shattered.

Everyone was holding their breaths, waiting for something, anything to happen.

And it did.

A crack formed in Fukuroda's gigantic glove, the sound of the crack resounding in his mind, but that was only the start of his downfall.

More and more cracks developed in the square, Fukuroda's pupils dilated as his eyes opened like plates, it all happened in mere seconds, but for him, these seconds were like hours, until his ultimate weapon inevitably shattered in pieces, to not only his shock, but to the audience's.

When all the weapon's pieces were in the ground, revealing the unscathed cheek of Ryuko, desperation, and rage took over him, plenty of veins bulged in the boxer's whole head coupled with profuse sweating.

"Is that all you got?"

Not only this bitch dared to take his weapon, his pride, and coldly crush it, but she dared to  _tease_ him?!

"Impossible!" Fukuroda threw punches with the left hand, the only hand that had a glove at the moment, hitting Ryuko in the nose, stomach, sternum, arm, neck, every part he could think of to attack, in a desperate attempt to win, to be the victor. "Impossible! Impossible!"

His attacks were not having the wished effect, perhaps, because Ryuko was still standing there unharmed. "I'm not feelin' your attacks at all!"

Fukuroda kept attacking her regardless of what she yelled to him until energy finally abandoned his body, and he no longer had the strength to toss the devastating punches he was used to performing.

"It's over?" Steam erupted from the ventilation grill her armor had behind, and from the front side too. "Time for payback for yesterday, bastard!"

Ryuko flipped her blade as Fukuroda stared dumbly at her before slamming the hilt against his helmet as if playing baseball, not hesitating in breaking it in its entirety, continuing with a hook in his stomach with the fist, and she hit the poor guy using the hilt of her blade on his chin, sending him high to the air and letting him land and bounce in the floor.

As he was suspended in the air due to his bounce, Ryuko took her chance to finish him for good. "Now to finish you off!"

Doing a linear slash, Ryuko appeared far from Fukuroda, her attack being performed so fast that no one was able to see her moving at full speed as she performed her attack, Sho, who was accustomed to fighting at hypersonic levels of speed did not have a problem in seeing her doing her finishing move, but in his perspective, it still was very fast.

The whole uniform of Fukuroda was ripped apart, pieces of it falling to the ground, and a red single thread emerged from the remains of the uniform, directing towards Ryuko, who was turned and crouched, not seeing it being absorbed by her armor, but Sho witnessed it all.

"And now…" Ryuko spun around and hopped to the boxer in the air, slamming him with the flat side of the blade. "To REALLY finish you off!"

The force behind her slam was far beyond everyone's expectations, and Fukuroda was sent flying to the top of the academy, in the exact same direction Satsuki was standing, and Sho thought that Ryuko did that on purpose, which would also mean that she had a GREAT aim.

A troop of One-Star students stood in front of her, intending to stop the bloodied, bruised and wounded body of Fukuroda from colliding with Satsuki, followed by the full Elite-Four, but still, a stray drop of blood landed in Satsuki's cheek.

Everyone's mouth fell.

Satsuki wiped away the blood stained in her cheek impassively, her stern gaze focusing in Ryuko, who was standing in the center of the big ring, glancing at her back. Sanageyama was about to jump from the top and show Ryuko true hell, but was stopped by Satsuki, who ordered him to atop and consequently made a question to Ryuko.

"Where did you found that?"

Satsuki's voice echoed in the courtyard, and when Ryuko was about to reply, she heard the voice of Sho. "Hey! Catch this!"

Everyone glanced to the one who yelled that, who was the ginger-haired esper, witnessing how he tossed a microphone to Ryuko, the girl catching it effortlessly, then her gaze met Satsuki's again.

"This is a keepsake from my father, and this scissor blade belongs to the person who killed him!"

Ryuko pointed her blade to Satsuki in front of everyone, gaining looks of discord from the people who were loyal to the student council president. "And you'll tell me, right here and right now, who is the owner of this scissor blade, Satsuki Kiryuin!"

After these words were said, silence arrived, an extremely tense silence in which the herds of students expected Ryuko to lunge towards Satsuki's throat and vice-versa.

Until Mako squealed.

"What a badass you are Ryuko!"

And there Mako was, doing wonders, and the voice of Sho reached her ears, too. "Whoa! Great victory sweetcheeks!"

When Ryuko was about to glance at her friends, the voice if Satsuki echoed again in the courtyard. "Your teacher informed me that your name was Ryuko Matoi, are you the daughter of Isshin Matoi?"

Ryuko's glare intensified. "So you know my father! That settles it…!"

The scissor blade wielder bowed, unable to stand on her anymore as steam erupted from her skirt and ventilation grill.  **"Ryuko, we are running out of time, I am consuming too much from you."**

"Wasn't that what you wanted?!" Ryuko tried to stand, but could only put one heel on the ground, and that because she was holding on her blad which she embedded in the ring's arena.

" **At this rate, you are going to pass out from anemia."**

"Dammit!"

Ryuko came to the conclusion that she could not stand, let alone walk, and that she basically was in the enemy's territory, Satsuki could easily send her lackeys to her and take Senketsu and his scissor blade.

Being so defenseless angered Ryuko to no end.

"Ryuko!"

That voice could only belong to a person, and that person was Shigeo, who arrived just at the moment she bowed. Ryuko could hear not only his footsteps, but also some others, an indicator that persons were entering the arena.

"Hold on a sec, Ryuko!"

"Ryuko! Ryuko! Are you okay?"

To her sides, she could see Sho, Mako, and Shigeo, the latter crouching to be at her height. "Can you walk…?"

"Do I look like I can walk?" Ryuko sarcastically asked, sweat falling down on her chin.

"To be fair, you wrecked Fukuroda so easily that it's pretty hard to believe you can't walk."

An annoyed glare was sent by Ryuko to Sho. "You smartass…this thing is drinkin' my blood like crazy, that's why I can't walk…!" She said between breaths.

"Ah, got it," Sho said scratching his head and closing his eyes as if to avoid Ryuko's glare.

"That's not important Ryuko! You won and that's what matters!"

Ryuko just deadpanned at Mako before Shigeo talked. "Ryuko, you need to rest."

"Yep! We can go to my house Ryuko!"

"Do you need someone to carry you?" Shigeo asked. The girl glared daggers at him. "What?! N-No! I still can-

"C' mon Ryuko, don't be dumb! Anyone with a bit of common sense would see that you're in the shit, you haven't eaten something in all the day even, so let my bro carry you for the love of everything."

Ryuko was about to answer to what the smartass of Sho said, but found out more early than late that she could not argument anything, Sho was completely right, and she glanced to Shigeo again.

"Fine, carry me to Mako's house…I'll rest for now…"

Ryuko's gaze met Satsuki's again. "We'll see each other again tomorrow, Kiryuin!"

After she said these words, Shigeo lifted her with psychic energy, surprising Ryuko with the action. "I thought you would carry…uh…nevermind."

Shigeo figured out what she was going to say. "You want me to carry you in the shoulders? I can do so, if you feel uncomfortable with telekinesis."

"What? N-No!"

Unfortunately for Ryuko, Shigeo went ahead of her and placed her in his shoulders, and she was too tired to argue about that. "..Whatever…just carry me…"

Sho, who was glancing around checking on the surroundings warned his companions. "Guys, I think we should leave, these idiots are approaching…!"

The ginger-haired esper saw how Sanageyama was calling more and more students of One-Star and No-Star rank to them, and had he not activated the psychic shield, they would be over them.

"Whoa! Sho that shield's so cool!"

Mako was lifted up and Sho placed her in his shoulders, just like Shigeo did with Ryuko. "Hey Sho! You wanna carry me too!"

"Yeah, these assholes sure will take you as a hostage, we can't afford to let that happen, right bro?"

"Suzuki's right, Mako," Shigeo affirmed, his red eyes watching over the zone, seeing how the students were lunging towards them, the shield stopping them in their tracks.

Shigeo did not like to use his powers on people, but this was an emergency.

"Suzuki, deactivate your shield, please."

"Do ya realize that these idiots will fall on us if I do that?"

"…I have a plan."

"What pla-"

Sho immediately figured the meaning behind these words and sighed. "I see you're not a wimpy…fine, do whatever you want."

The esper shut down his barrier and just when every student was going to fall and reach the two espers and two girls, a blinding light appeared and every one of the students was sent to the ground, they were stunned at the move used by Shigeo, which was the goal of the move, as Shigeo never hurt non-espers with his powers.

"No time to lose! Let's go!" Sho energetically said, followed by Mako's squeal. "Yuuup! Let's go! Go!"

Shigeo heard the voice of Sanageyama behind. "Not happening! After them!"

More and more students appeared and approached the espers, but to all their surprise, both Sho and Shigeo moved at full speed to the academy's entrance, disappearing and appearing from one place to another, it looked as if they teleported even if they did not.

Sho gave the herds of students the finger from afar. "Catch us if you can, bitches!"

The ginger-haired esper left the zone faster than the eye could see while Mako emitted a "Yuuupiiii!", and Shigeo looked at Sanageyama.

For some reason, he felt betrayed.

He left nonetheless, remembering that Ryuko needed to rest somewhere, and far from here.

"Shit! Don't let them escape! After them, after them!" Sanageyama yelled to the students, more of them running towards the entrance until Satsuki's stern voice resounded.

"Enough."

The green-haired warrior glanced upwards and protested, covering his eyes due to the light shining from there. "But my lady-"

"They will come back, if Ryuko Matoi wants to know the answers she seeks, she will come back."

Satsuki then turned and left, assuming that Sanageyama would follow her orders, which was the right assumption, as Sanageyama yelled to the students "STOP!", as if Satsuki's loud 'Enough' was not enough.

He then looked to the top of the academy again.

"You're a dazzling as ever, Lady Satsuki…"

She was right; these students, including White T-Poison and Ryuko Matoi, would return, although, he was curious as to who was the one with the ginger hair, he never appeared in the academy.

Maybe just another student.


	7. Chapter 7

" _ **Mother"**_

* * *

Ryuko fell unconscious on Shigeo's shoulders without realizing it, and right now, she was laying in the futon in which she slept the last night, her face looking oddly peaceful in contrast to how she could be when awake.

Blearily opening her eyes revealing sleepy blue irises, gear-shaped pupils, the girl moved to a sitting position and yawned before stretching her arms. Once she was completely awake, she glanced around only to find out that she was inside the room of Mako and the memories of what happened through the day kicked in on her mind.

When she recalled all the events, she could only ask herself a question in the silence of the room, an odd fact considering the family and the person this place belonged to.

Where was Mob? She supposed he was responsible for carrying her over Mako's home, she remembered how he placed her in his shoulders when she could not walk on her own anymore, and then everything went black.

Ryuko took off the blankets covering her and stood from the futon, hearing voices coming from out of the room, wondering what they were talking about, but then, she remembered how revealing her outfit was, and it would be embarrassing to walk out of the room with that put.

That was until she glanced below and saw that her outfit, Senketsu, returned to its original form, which was a convenient thing, now she could walk out of the room with no problems. Ryuko also found that her shoes were not in her feet, but aside from the futon, and she decided to not put on them, for some reason, she felt more comfortable here without them.

Opening the door, she found three boys eating with chopsticks in the dining table, the three boys being Shigeo, Sho, and Mataro. They were enjoying the croquettes prepared by Mrs. Mankanshoku, Sho had a face of total joy whereas Shigeo's eyes were closed as he delighted himself with the taste of the croquettes.

"I give this a twenty out of ten!" Sho affirmed between chomp and chomp, and Ryuko let out a chuckle from where she was standing. Even when eating, the guy could not keep his mouth shut.

Everyone who was sitting eating glanced in direction to Mako's room, finding Ryuko standing there. "Hey, exhibitionist girl! How was your fight?" Sho teased with a grin, expecting Ryuko to get angry at him, and he did right in expecting so.

"Exhibitionist my ass! I didn't do that because I wanted to…!"

Mataro moved close to her, watching her uniform with curious eyes and a perverted smirk. "So this is yer armor! No one on their right minds would wear this unless it was a por-"

Ryuko did not plan in letting Mataro end the phrase. Clenching her hand hard, she smacked him in the head, the force of the punch provoking Mataro to flip and fall on his head as he emitted a loud "Ouch!".

"Bite me! It's complicated!" Ryuko affirmed gruffly, earning another teasing look from Sho.

"Undressing in front of everyone isn't pretty complicated…" He said, provoking Ryuko to glare daggers at him, gritting her teeth.

"Oh shut up, smartass!"

Sho raised his hands up his hands trying to calm Ryuko down. "Alright! I'll shut up! Geez, what a bitter chick you are, don't she, bro?" The esper asked Shigeo who was busy eating his portion of croquettes.

"I thought you two were getting along," Shigeo said once he finished chewing and swallowing, Ryuko sitting aside from him with an annoyed expression, yes, her brows furrowed and all that.

"It's your friend's fault."

The fact that both Sho and Ryuko said that did not help in the slightest and Shigeo sighed in resignation. He moved his plate which still had plenty of croquettes to where Ryuko was, earning a look of confusion from her.

"Mob?"

"I'm full, and you haven't eaten in the whole day, so I give you my plate."

The look he gave her indicated that he was genuinely worried about her well-being, and Ryuko sighed, still not understanding why he was so kind with her, or with  _everyone_ in general, it was an almost extraterrestrial concept for her, after all the shit she went through in her life. "Fine, I'll eat 'em."

Besides, the croquettes seemed appealing, and her stomach roared in the exact moment she was about to take one, her cheeks getting warmer while Shigeo smiled and Sho chuckled. "Well, you're pretty hungry, don't ya? Now you owe one to my friend here, well, two in fact, 'cause he carried you here."

"Whatever," Ryuko replied before taking one croquette with two of the unused chopsticks in the table to her mouth, chewing it and tasting the, forgive the redundancy, extremely delicious taste. She got to eat these croquettes last night, and Ryuko could tell they were prepared with the same love, effort, and dedication.

"Ryuko!"

Mako's voice resounded in the house and through the home's door, Ryuko could see Mako entering. "You're awake!"

"Umm, yes, I am," Ryuko confirmed with her default expression as she chewed on a croquette. She was growing used to Mako faster and faster, Shigeo and Sho were not an exception to that.

"I was wondering when you'd wake up!

It was in an instant, but Mako actually moved to where the croquettes were stored and pulled a plate full of them out before returning to the table where Ryuko was sitting, placing the plate in the table and shaking the mountain of croquettes.

"Damn…she got all the love," Sho muttered with a half-smile. Shigeo just stared flabbergasted at the height of the mountain of croquettes and Ryuko did the same.

"Go Ryuko! Eat! You must be hungry after your encounter with Fukuroda." Mako smiled sweetly at her friend after she spoke these words, and just when Ryuko was about to take one of the croquettes from croquet tower...

Mako shoved a croquette into Ryuko's mouth, amusing Sho and surprising Shigeo. It seemed that the word "Manners" was not in Mako's dictionary, and neither it was in her brother's. Sho recalled how she dragged him and Shigeo to her house, not accepting a no for an answer, and sitting them so they could eat while Ryuko got her "injuries" treated.

Now that he remembered, Ryuko did not have any injury when they arrived here…so…

"Mako, what'd your old man do to Ryuko in that room? She didn't have any injury…" He affirmed, scratching his chin that started to develop a short ginger-colored beard with a narrowed gaze, a sign that meant how deep he was in thought.

"What?! Mako's dad was with me in the room?!" Ryuko yelled after swallowing the nice-tasting croquette.

"Yep! He injected blood to you and went out of the room, he said you needed it, Ryuko!"

Ryuko let out a relieved sigh. For a moment, she thought that the man tried to do a move on her while asleep, but it seemed that it was not the case. "Don't worry! If you compare the number of people he's killed against the number of people he's saved, he's killed a lot more!"

Sho's jaw fell while Shigeo started to sweat coldly, his heart skipping a beat. The ginger-haired esper let out a nervous chuckle while scratching his head compulsively. "I-Is that so Mako? G-Good! Your dad took good care of Ryuko!"

"Yup! He's the best back-alley doctor you'll ever see over here, Sho!" Mako said, the admiration in her voice easily catchable. Sho and Shigeo glanced to each other, thinking exactly the same thing.

' _We could have killed her_ '

"That's not a good thing…" Ryuko muttered, now worried about her well-being, who knew if Mako's dad accidentally poisoned her?

"What? Being a back-alley doctor or have killed more people than saved?" Mako inquired, her head cocked to the side, gaining Ryuko's answer as a flat "Both?"

Two big hands were placed in Shigeo and Sho's shoulders, and the voice of the father of Mako sounded, indicating that he was in the house. "Don't worry! Dead ones never sue, not that I know." Mr. Mankanshoku let out with a nonchalant expression, waving Ryuko off with a hand while letting his weight fall on Sho's shoulder with the other, the latter's face becoming completely red due to the struggle, Mako's father was not exactly small, to begin with.

Sho would be finished at any moment.

"I see you woke up, Ryuko."

That soft voice belonged to the mother of Mako, Sukuyo. "Mom! The toilet's clogged!"

"Why is that?"

"It's because I-"

Whereas Mako described what was the cause of the toilet's problem at great detail, Sho decided to ask a question to the only esper apart from him in the room once Bazaro stopped placing his weight on him and went to the bathroom with unknown motives. "How'd your enrollment go bro? I mean, they gave you a document for your parents to sign, right?"

Shigeo recalled how the events turned out when he gave his parents the news; they were glad he got accepted in a school such as Honnoji and signed on the document. "Yes, but why are you asking that?"

"Curiosity, nothin' more, don't worry," Sho said, waving Shigeo off as he ate another croquette from his plate, another matter arriving at his mind. "What we're gonna do with the busted table? We didn't clean it off."

Ryuko averted her gaze from the two, she still felt faultful of what she did back in Shigeo's apartment out of pure outrage. "Sorry about that…"

"You've already apologized Ryuko, besides, " Shigeo's eyes shifted to a battered spot in Mako's ceiling, and focusing on it, he managed to reconstitute the spot, leaving a perfect ceiling, much to Mako, Sukuyo and Mataro's utter amazement. "I can just unify the table again."

"Whoa, sister! Yer buds are amazin'!" Mataro exclaimed in awe, while Ryuko watched the event speechless. Sho just let out a smirk, mildly impressed at what he saw.

"Matter reconstitution huh? Makes me wonder what other tricks ya have up your sleeve, Ritsu's brother."

Shigeo executed that ability back when he was fourteen when he re-made the novel in pieces of a girl called Emi and revealed that he was an esper to her. He actually wondered what happened with her after that, they never exchanged words subsequent to the event.

He could not further dig in his thoughts thanks to Mako, who pounced over him in a bear hug, making him grunt as Sho snickered. "Thanks a ton, Shige! That spot always gave us problems since it appeared! One time it rained and we had to place a bucket below it for the drops to not fall in floor, thanks!"

"You don't know how grateful we are with you, kid." Mrs. Mankanshoku said with a sweet smile and Mr. Mankanshoku came out of the bathroom. "Sukuyo! I dealt with what was clogging the toilet!"

"Oh Barazo, thanks!"

The mother of Mako approached her husband and kissed him in the cheek, the latter smiling at the gesture, and Sho just rolled his eyes. "Stuff is getting overzealous here, I think I'll leave, come with me, bro?" Sho asked Shigeo, who replied after his brief glance to the kiss Mako's mother gave to the man of the family, and after looking at the hour on his phone. "I'll leave too, it's getting late."

The two espers stood up from the spot they were sitting on and strolled towards the door, Sho being the one opening it before his blue eyes darted towards the family behind them.

"See you all around!"

The fact that Shigeo said these words at the same time he did was a little impressive, and everyone said their goodbyes to them, Mako's hug included on the equation. They left afterward, Shigeo walking alongside Sho, who was humming a tone he didn't recognize.

"Mako's food was kinda delicious," Sho said, stopping himself from humming only to keep humming a lot more, until Shigeo's reply reached his ears.

"Yes, it was really nice."

Sho chuckled and glanced to the esper at his side, still walking alongside each other across the slums. " _Nice?_ Mako wouldn't like to hear you sayin' that."

The black-haired esper arched an eyebrow, wondering what he had said that made his brother's best friend say that. "Why?"

Sho pretended to ponder the question before replying. "'Cause Mako's food wasn't just 'nice' as you put it, it was amazing."

Now it was the turn of Shigeo to chuckle in amusement, provoking Sho to lift an eyebrow. "Hey, what's so funny?"

The red eyes of Shigeo focused on the way, careful to not stumble on something, say, a cracked spot; these were common on the slums, safe for some parts and places.

"I think our definition of 'nice' and 'amazing' it's the same, Suzuki." He said with a little smile, earning a "Huh." From Sho, but leaning towards not complicating things in an explanation, Shigeo decided to stay silent, until Sho changed the matter, and until Sho stopped looking at him as if he was a four-eyed cat.

And after some seconds, he did. "By the way, now that you're kinda getting a hold of how this place is, " The ginger-haired esper stood in his way, stopping Shigeo on his tracks, an action that earned a puzzled gaze from Shigeo, eyebrows furrowed in thought; there was obviously something his companion wanted to tell him, and there was only one way to figure out what, well, two actually.

Or asking, or waiting for him to speak.

Shigeo leaned more towards the former, but, too bad, Sho didn't seem to be in agreement with that idea, his words coming in a demanding and strong tone, becoming a sixteen-year-old clone of Toichiro Suzuki. "Do you plan to stay?"

The normally relaxed and slightly arrogant expression Sho had in his face, as if he believed he was the greatest man in the world, was replaced by a cold and serious gaze, emulating to the perfection that one expression his father had almost always, he wasn't even smirking, and these facts were provoking a slightly unsettling feeling on Shigeo.

Nonetheless, the esper wasn't fazed by that fact, the vibe he got made him feel uncomfortable, yeah, but that was about it. "I'll stay," Shigeo affirmed in an equally strong tone, pondering the reason his friend would talk to him like that. "I'll stay, I was the one who wanted to come after all."

Sho stared at him with the same stern gaze, something that led Shigeo to think there was still something he wanted to say, but his train of thought was interrupted in the instant the son of his greatest enemy spoke again. "You don't need to stay, you can leave if you want."

"I  _want_  to stay."

The complete bluntness in which Shigeo said these words took Sho back, before he recovered from his brief shock, the shock provoked by not expecting such a blunt and strong answer by part of his friend.

Shigeo was always a little blunt, that's what he got to see when he passed time with him, whether it was on his house along with Ritsu or outside, to celebrate something, go to a party or whatever activity that meant going with your friends somewhere, but this was something unseen, a strong-willed side he didn't get to see.

Perhaps his friend's brother had no trouble in saying what he thought and wanted, and who wouldn't after all the shit a person like Shigeo went through? Still, it was overtaking.

"Why? This place is a complete and utter mess, ain't you seeing it?"

The words spoken by Sho put Shigeo to ponder for seconds, seconds that seemed like hours for the black-haired esper, when he arrived, his first impressions, the misery of the people living in the slums, that wasn't right,  _no._ Then he stepped back to when Mako said how the system worked in the city, remarking that the more stars your uniform had, the better your home, your roof over your head would be, and that wasn't right either, it was unfair; you couldn't just leave the majority on the shit while others with higher ranks had the best residences, the best supplies, the best services, the best of the  _best_ , and what was worst, you couldn't give these guys that had everything authority over the ones living in the slums as if they were lower beings, only adults were mature enough to exercise that position, save for some exceptions, but Shigeo didn't think the  _figures of authority_ of Honnoji Academy were mature enough, not after hearing rules like "You'll bow before Lady Satsuki or else, you'll be punished", it was simply unreal.

He didn't think that back when he heard it in the morning of yesterday due to his sleepiness, but now that he realized it, Shigeo knew that none of the figures of authority were really worth hearing, and he wouldn't just cross his arms while watching them  _exercise_ that position.

That meant he would let neither Ryuko or Mako alone dealing against them.

"Because Ryuko and Mako are still here, and because I don't deem it right for these people living the way they live." Shigeo's stern gaze was maintained, as if he was having a bad memory, and in fact,  _he was._ The perplexed look in Sho's eyes remained until the moment he made his last question in an almost teasing way, the shock in his face vanishing. "So? What are you gonna do about it?"

Shigeo tried to think of something, but in the end, nothing came to his mind, and he just met Sho's eyes, a little bit frustrated at himself. "I don't know…just stay?"

The unreadable stare he received from Sho indicated that it wasn't what the other esper expected, that fact solidified by the "What?" Sho let escape from his mouth.

"I just can't think of another thing," Shigeo admitted with a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his head, all the unneeded and uncomfortable atmosphere dissipating completely, and Sho just face-palmed himself before interlacing his own hands behind his head with eyes closed, sighing."

"C'mon, I know you've got  _more_ than  _that,_ remember when you told my old man that sometimes people needed to be strict with others?"

Shigeo raised his eyebrows, not only because of the surprise Sho made him feel when he told him that  _he_  was awake at the moment he let his father hear that affirmation, before commencing one of the biggest battles in his life, the battle against Toichiro; he still remembered how intense the struggle between him and Sho's father had been, Shigeo even got carried away by his own powers for a moment, a brief moment he hated with all his forces, a moment that reminded him day and night how for an instant, he didn't care about the consequences, about what could happen to his loved ones.

He got so lost in his thoughts remembering how he lost control of himself, that he didn't answer Sho's question, not until he called him. "Hey, daydreaming about Ryuko? Not the time for that, ya know."

That phrase was enough to pull Shigeo out of his memories, making him arch an eyebrow. " _Daydream_ about Ryuko? Why would I do that?"

Sho waved him off as he let out a "Just sayin'", before he placed his thumb and index finger beneath his chin, looking to the dark sky, as if thinking of something. "It's just that you two're gettin' along so well…"

Shigeo considered that fact for a moment before shaking his head in denial. "We're just friends."

Yeah, that was it; they were just friends, friends who only knew each other for less than twenty-four hours, or maybe more, but that was about it, and it was a good thing for Shigeo that they were developing a nice friendship in such a short amount of time.

"Yeah, tell me, " Sho's eyes darted to him again, placing a hand in his pockets and raising the other as if he was asking for an object. "Did ya thought about somethin' amazing? I'm still waiting, y'know, but you won't be able to think of something more amazing than what I could plan, just so you know." He said with that insufferable smirk of his, a smirk Shigeo was somewhat used to see, sometimes Sho visited Ritsu after all, and even though in the first days Sho tried to hide from everyone but Ritsu using the refraction of light, Shigeo could always sense him with his ESP.

The middle-time exorcist scratched his head, recalling his own words.

'Sometimes you need to get hurt to understand'

After remembering that phrase, Shigeo recalled who was the one who influenced him to say them.

Keiji Mogami.

'Sometimes you need to be strict with others, when you understand that, you will be invincible, Shigeo Kageyama'

All plan Shigeo could have invented went to the trash when Sho spoke some words, some  _little_ words, that were easier said than done. "What about crushing Satsuki, her goons and the system she organized? That would be kinda exciting."

The eyes of Shigeo widened like plates at hearing that, embracing what his friend just said; to just go there, scream 'I'll crush everything you created' and subsequently doing it would be right?

"And, before you think what I think you're already thinkin', I'm talking about doing it  _smoothly,_ not just break inside there and destroy things like a madman," Sho flatly clarified, before proceeding with something that amused Shigeo. "Besides, that would be kinda rude of us, we don't wanna be branded as bad boys, right?"

A chuckle escaped from Shigeo's mouth, and the grin Sho was doing only fueled the feeling of levity from the situation. "You don't care about etiquette." Shigeo plainly stated, a smile formed in his face; Sho was a really nice person to be around with once you got through the brief teasing, he didn't regret telling that to Ryuko.

"Dunno, but matter aside, what do you think of the plan? Sounds good doesn't it?" Sho said with a mock arrogant face, and Shigeo resumed his walk towards the apartment, Sho doing the same while waiting for the brother of his best friend's answer.

"I'll think about it, Suzuki, it would be hypocritical of me to be against Kiryuin while living in an apartment given by  _her."_

The two simultaneously came to a halt, and the esper realized the truth behind Shigeo's words; they would be hypocritical idiots if they were to fight against Satsuki's law and order while eating from  _her_ and living from  _her,_ it would be plain wrong.

"You're damn right, bro."

A sigh escaped from Shigeo, and a far-away look could be seen in his features. "What now?"

Sho knew what these words meant,  _exactly;_ they wouldn't go to that apartment, as tempting as the idea of going sounded. They remained silent for a while, until Sho came with a solution to their problems.

"We can rent an apartment from this district, these aren't given by Satsuki, most of the people who visit this place're only allowed to stay on the slums, and for what I heard, most structures are constructed by people who either don't care 'bout Satsuki or the Kiryuin conglomerate and the bitch doesn't care about what happens down here."

Shigeo felt actually relieved to hear Sho say all that, now they wouldn't be hypocrites, and that was the only thing he asked for. "This place is constructed and handled mostly by other people?"

"I wouldn't say mostly,  _all of it_ is the best statement," Sho affirmed, knowing that he was saying the truth, and Shigeo turned to him.

"We should get going then, before night arrives."

* * *

Luckily enough, Shigeo had a good amount of money stored, and he made good use of it by renting a small apartment in the lowest spot of the slums; it wasn't the greatest thing, but hey, like Dimple would say, a place to crash was a place to crash, and so he would, he wasn't a picky person when it came to resting spots.

But not before eating the food he also bought on the slums, when he and Sho parted ways, that moment when his friend found another apartment in the other end of the slums made Shigeo feel dumb at thinking this place was small,  _no,_ it was big, like a city should be, and by far, the people in the slums felt more alive than in the higher districts, even he, who only passed one day in Honnou City, could tell that.

How he missed the sound of someone putting a song outside. Even if it was through a 90s radio, at least that was something.

He felt like putting music all of sudden.

Searching on his phone list, the esper found a song he particularly enjoyed; the name of the song was "Son Of Man", and the movie it belonged to was "Tarzan", and although he hadn't watched said movie, Shigeo heard from other people that it was an amazing movie, but right now he didn't feel like watching animation for kids.

He just liked cheerful music, and "Son of Man" was one of the most cheerful songs he heard.

And so, he started to eat his sandwich at a calm pace, enjoying it while listening to the marvelous sound of the song, at a low volume of course, so he and only he could hear it, adoring every bit of it, both of the sandwich and the song, not thinking of anything rather than the delight he felt at hearing and eating stuff he liked, although, he still preferred ramen.

It remained like that until he ate the sandwich, and until his phone's alarm sounded interrupting the gorgeous song, indicating that either he got a message from someone or that he was getting a call, and judging by the unknown number he saw on the screen, and by the alarm that was  _still_ sounding, it was a call.

"At this hour?", "From who?" Where questions he pondered briefly, knowing that the only way of figuring so was answering, and clicking the "answer" option, he placed the phone close to his ear. "Who is it?"

The person calling him started to desperately rant about the situation he was in, rapidly earning Shigeo's annoyment. It wasn't very right to call someone at 8:47 PM and just start to basically shout at the phone to the person you're calling. Nonetheless, Shigeo was proud to say that he was educated enough to not react badly to  _this_ person, much less when the two words, "evil spirit" were taking part in the matter.

Reigen taught him that some people could be a bit  _desperate,_ so he had to be comprehensive, overall  _now_ that he was basically working  _alone._

Shigeo told the person to calm down and assured him that he would go to that location, not before telling his new client that the cost of the exorcism would be 600 yen, just for interrupting his calm moment hearing cheerful music, of course.

And no, he didn't tell the client the calm-moment-with-cheerful-music part, just the 600 yen part. Shigeo decided to pull the notebook Sho recovered to him back in the morning, he owed one to him. The motive of Shigeo pulling said notebook was that he would write something in a sheet, just in case he forgot by next morning.

"I will write that I only work from one of the afternoon to six of the afternoon in that poster I placed on that alleyway"

Yes, because Reigen hid a poster from their office with Shigeo's number inside of Shigeo's backpack without him knowing, also giving him the written instruction of putting it somewhere in the slums, cursing it with a "soft" curse in case some bastard thought it would be funny to take it off from wherever Shigeo placed the poster on.

Of course, the esper wouldn't do the "curse" part, he not only didn't know how to do such thing, but he also wouldn't be willing to ruin someone's life with that, and would rather take the "curse" part comically.

He knew his master put that for amusement purposes.

* * *

"I'll beat that damn information out of Satsuki Kiryuin, whether she wants to tell me or not."

Ryuko was pissed; yesterday, just when she was about to kick that bitch's in order for her to spit everything she knew about her father, in a sudden and  _convenient_ turn of tables, her body couldn't go anymore due to Senketsu drinking way too much blood, if only it didn't consume so much, she would've dealt with everyone and everything standing in her way towards the answers she desperately searched.

Speaking of Senketsu, he didn't say a single thing after the humiliation she gave to the boxing douche, neither he did at the hour of sleep, in which she even called him, and right now, he wasn't talking either, he was completely quiet.

Which wasn't something she minded.

"You're rude."

The esper walking alongside her seemed to be against the idea of her just breaking in the academy and beating Satsuki up, which made Ryuko wonder what he had in mind.

"What do you suggest then?" Ryuko asked, an eyebrow arched inquisitively, expectant for the answer Shigeo had for her. It wasn't that she intended to change her plans if he said something convincing, but still, a small part of her wanted to hear what he thought about her situation.

"You can just respectively ask her about it, you two made a deal, after all, the rules were that she would consider answering your questions if you won in a fair fight with Fukuroda, and you did," Shigeo stated, stepping on the way that led to the tram of the slums along Ryuko, carrying a sleeping Mako with telekinesis.

He  _wanted_ Ryuko to do things the way he suggested, but that didn't change the fact that he was absolutely against Satsuki now, and that along Sho, he intended to slowly break everything she created. A tiny,  _very tiny_  part of him was excited to do that, for the thrill that meant destroying the system, the thrill that meant fighting against everyone loyal to Satsuki Kiryuin and defeating them.

But it was only  _that,_ a  _tiny_ part of him.

Ryuko scoffed. "As if. That bitch thinks that we're on a lower pedestal than her, I can see it, do ya really think she'll answer the questions of the one person who bested one of her lackeys?"

The esper remained silent for a moment, accepting that Ryuko had the reason in this one. "You're right, she may think of us as lower beings, but still, you can at least  _try_ to ask her respectfully."

The scissor blade wielder sighed. "You're a hopeless bastard, instead of trying to be nice with her, why don't-"

Shigeo's eyes darted to Ryuko. "I didn't say I would be nice with Satsuki, did I?"

Ryuko came to a halt, and so Shigeo did. "What do you mean?" Ryuko questioned, and Shigeo glanced to the ridiculously big school in the distance, being able to see it even from the distance in which he was on.

"Sho said that this place was a mess, and he was right, " The esper glanced over Ryuko again, meeting her blue eyes, gear-shaped pupils. "If Satsuki doesn't have anyone to show her that she's doing the wrong, I'll personally  _do so."_

The stern tone in Shigeo's voice implied that he wasn't intending to do so by dialogue, and that fact alone ignited emotion and light thrill in Ryuko. "Well, that's awesome, it means we're allies, right?" She inquired with a grin, thinking that she already knew the answer.

Shigeo shook his head, and Ryuko frowned in puzzlement. "We're not allies, we're  _friends,"_

It was after Shigeo spoke these words that he scratched his head and added: "As cliche as it sounds."

Ryuko stared at him with wide eyes, clearly, that hadn't been the answer she expected, but being Shigeo, she felt a little dumb for thinking that he wouldn't say that, what else would he say apart from 'We're friends'?

With that in her mind, Ryuko grinned again and rolled her eyes. "I should've expected you'd say that, let's get over there then!"

Ryuko was about to run, but then, she found a pretty big rock in her way, and to her mild surprise, it was moved out of the way by the telekinesis of Shigeo, who anticipated the event.

"You can fall if you run like that here."

The girl was a half-relieved that he moved the rock out of the way, and half-irked at that; she wasn't a kid who needed someone to look out for her all the time, damn it.

"Whatever,  _mommy."_

Shigeo's eyes widened at that word used by Ryuko to refer to  _him._ "Why'd you call me like that?"

"Because you're always trying to take care of me? I can do so without trouble, ya know." Ryuko affirmed with an irritated expression, an action that earned a frown by part of Shigeo.

"Is it bad to care about your friends?"

Ryuko was a bit inexperienced with the 'friends' thing, she always thought that 'friends' didn't exactly look out for you, that's what she witnessed in the places where she passed her life, in the gangs she joined in the past.

Maybe those weren't true friends, but even if Shigeo was a 'true' friend, her pride won't allow her to accept his help so easily, not  _always,_ anyway.

"No, but you've gotta understand that  _I_ can take care of  _myself."_

Shigeo's frown disappeared, his expression becoming unreadable until he sighed. "Maybe you're right, " He switched the matter quickly. "We should get going to Honnoji."

Ryuko nodded in agreement, and the two resumed with their walk to the tram, which, hopefully, wouldn't have appeared  _yet._

They wondered what this new day had prepared for them.


End file.
